Middlebury College News Letter 1974-04-01 : Volume XLVIII, Issue 3

Cover: Alexander Twilight '23
Frost Centenniai at Middlebury

By Larry Chase

4

The Iron-Willed Black Schoolmaster

and His Granite Academy

By the Editor

6

The First 115 Years

By Stephen A. Freeman

27

Pee Wee Hockey Moves Outdoors

By Larry Chase

36

Winter Sports Roundup

By Max Petersen

37

Around the Hill
Alumni News

DEPARTMENTS

1 Letters
15-26

35

Copyright, Middlebury College 1974

cri dits: Jean Pierre LeFloch—p. 2, top David Rhinelander—p. 5, rt. Gregor Hileman
—p. 2, hot . pp. 7-14, 28, 29, 36. Sandy Gordon 75—pp. 37, 39 left. Max Petersen—
pp. 38. 39 rt.. 40.

Middlebury

J

Vol. 48, No. 3
Spring 1974

editor: Gregor Hileman. editorial advisory board: Jack Bates ’42, Ray Bosworth ’29,
Walter Brooker ’37, Marilyn Bmhn ’47, Paul Cubeta, George Huban, David Littlefield,
Howard Munford ’34, Dennis O’Brien, Gordon Perine ’49, Kimberly Sparks, A. Richard
Turner.

The Middlebury College News Letter is published quarterly in Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer by
Middlebury College. Editorial office is room 42, Old Chapel, Middlebury-, Vermont 05753. Second-class
postage paid at Middlebury, Vt.

The Middlebury College News Letter is mailed without charge to all alumni. A parents edition, with¬
out alumni newt, if mailed without charge to all parents of students and recent graduates. Every alum¬
nus is asked to inform the Alumni Office of his change of address and of any news concerning himself
or another alumnus.

Around the Hill

A recently completed A-frame residence similar to the “dormettes"
to be erected on north edge of campus this summer.

New A-frames for 44

This spring the College began con¬
struction of two small residence halls,
each to house 22 students. The little
dorms are sited on the wooded ridge
north of the student societies (Free¬
man, Cook, and Hamlin Halls), facing
east, more or less, across the little
valley through which runs the access
road to the student societies complex.
The two units, which are budgeted at
$250,000, are designed by Dan Tully
& Associates of Boston, the architects
of Middlebury’s new athletic facility,
Fletcher Field.

“The College has 1658 beds in dor¬
mitories and peripheral housing,” says
Dean Wonnacott. “Fraternities can
house about 90 students. In order to
even out at 1800 students for the
year, the College needs an opening
figure of about 1840 students. Ever
since the enrollment was set at 1800
we have been short about 40 beds. The
new facilities will provide 44 beds,
bringing available housing to 1792.
This enables about 50 students to live
off campus, which is about as many as
the College considers desirable. This
current year there are 98 students liv¬
ing off campus and almost every study
lounge in the College has been pressed
into service as a student room; neither
situation is desirable.”

Energy crisis news

Confronted with that same fuel
shortage that affects us all, students,
faculty, and staff of the College have
earned a large tartan pennant this
winter by achieving substantial re¬
ductions in both heat and light.

Business manager Jim Ross ’51 re¬
ported in March that after adjustment
for the difference in degree days for
this year versus last, fuel consumption
was down 15% in December, 14.2%
in January, and 10.8% in February
over the same months last winter. The
January and February savings were
accomplished despite the addition of
the new Fletcher Field House to the
heating load.

Electricity usage for mid-December
through mid-January was down 8.4%
and for the next 30-day period was

down 19.8%. Peak-period usage in the
two periods was down 5.4% and 13.1%,
respectively.

With the Ides of March approach¬
ing, the College still had about 37%
of its winter purchase of 30 carloads
of coal.

Fraternities update

As we go to press (mid-March), the
fact-finding committee on fraternities
at Middlebury is still working up its
report, which is scheduled to be out
by March 30th. In order to assist the
committee in its work, the Adminis¬
tration has drafted a more concrete
proposal which attempts to specify
conditions which it feels necessary to
change, in the relation of fratrenities
and the College. In particular, the pro¬
posal spells out more precisely what
might constitute “ownership” and
“control,” as they are spoken of in the
Trustees’ general resolution of last
May. The aim of the proposal, accord¬
ing to Dean Dennis O’Brien, is to bal¬

ance the College’s legitimate interests
in control, and the fraternities’ con¬
cerns about autonomy. In our summer
issue we will report the committee’s
findings and any other developments.

Promoting Yen for Middlebury

Following a proposal for support of
the College’s Japanese language pro¬
gram submitted in November to the
Japan Foundation, Pres. Armstrong
flew to Japan in January to promote
Middlebury’s continuing educational
development. Accompanied by Mrs.
Armstrong and by the director of the
1974 Japanese Summer School, Prof.
Hiroshi Mivaji, Dr. Armstrong repre¬
sented Middlebury’s Japanese language
program and aspirations to the presi¬
dent and managing director of the
Japan Foundation in Tokyo. With
Prof. Miyaji, he also traveled to Osaka
to make a similar presentation to the
officers of the Matsushita Foundation.

They presented Middlebury’s Japa¬
nese program, also, to the Mitsubishi,

SPRING 1974

1

At Tokyo dinner with alumni were, at left,

Jim Nelson ’75, Jean Pierre LeFloch, Philip
Wheeler, father of Phil ’75, Howard

’60, Mrs. Armstrong, Dr. Armstrong, John
Howard ’60, Hiroshi Miyaji (Director, 197h
Japanese School at Middlebury), Nancy Wade,
Towar Wade ’52. Seated: Kumiko Mori
Kawabuchi ’69, Mrs. Wheeler, Lisa Gregory
’67, and Nancy Smollcr LeFloch ’59. Also,
Koichi Ishiyama ’69, seen above, with Nancy
LeFloch ’59, Dr. Armstrong, and Lisa
Gregory ’67.

Sumitomo, and Kashimi corporations.
During his four days in Nippon, Dr.
Armstrong talked with directors of
three other Japanese-American study
programs—the University Center of
Japanese Studies in Tokyo, the Kyoto
Associates program affiliated with
Doshisha University, and the Great
Lakes College Association, which of¬
fers a Japanese studies program affili¬
ated with Yasida University.

He sounded out administrators in
Kyoto and Doshisha Universities on a
possible association if Middlebury
were to establish an Asian School in
Japan, similar to her four language

schools abroad in Madrid, Paris,
Mainz, and Florence.

This visit, the first of a Middlebury
College president to Japan, enabled
Dr. Armstrong to meet Middlebury’s
alumni in Tokyo. John and Maggie
Howard ’60 hosted a dinner in their
Tokyo home for the President and
their fellow alumni on January 7th.
Joining in the conviviality were, in
class order, Towar Wade ’52, Nancy
Smoller LeFloch ’59, hosts John ’60
and Margaret von Wodtke Howard
’60, Lisa Gregory ’67, Kumiko Mori
Kawabuchi ’69, Koichi Ishiyama ’69,
Jim Nelson ’75, and Mr. & Mrs. Philip

Wheeler, the parents of Phil Wheeler
’75; also, Nancy LeFloch’s husband,
Jean Pierre, and Towar Wade’s sister,
Nancy.

On their return flight, Dr. and Mrs.
Armstrong stopped off in Hawaii for
a four-day weekend and met Middle¬
bury alumni at a Friday night dinner
in Honolulu. Vice-President Walter
Brooker ’37, Mrs. Brooker ’40, and
the new assistant director of alumni
relations, Bobbie Weeks, were also
present for this occasion.

The Armstrongs were back in Ver¬
mont on the 15th after a happy and
productive 12 days abroad.

Classes of ’59, ’64, ’69 Please Note

Reunions for the classes of 1959, 1964
and 1969 will he held the weekend of
September 27-29. This is the weekend of
the first home football game of the 1974
season and our opponent will be Wes¬
leyan.

The other reunion classes—1914, 1919,
1924, 1929, 1934, 1939, 1944, 1949 and
1954 will reune May 24-26, 1974 and
the reunion dinners will be held on Sat¬
urday evening. May 25th.

Homecoming Weekend will be October
4-6 and the homecoming football game
is with W.P.I. Parent’s Weekend will be
October 25-27, when the football game
will be with Trinity College.

by Will to the College on the Hill

From a trust under the will of the late Cyril H. Jones
$15,000 as an addition to the Frederica V. Jones
Scholarship Fund.

From the estate of Alice R. Peaslee $2,000.

$1,000 to establish the Alice R. Peaslee ’13 Memorial
and $1,000 to establish the Grace Peaslee Boynton ’15
Memorial in the Alumni Endowment.

From the estate of Colonel Joseph A. Wilson ’16,
USAF (Ret.), $5,000 to establish the Joseph A. Wilson
’16 Fund in the permanent endowment of Middlebury
College. Annual income unrestricted.

9

MIDDLEBURY

Frost Centennial
at Middlebury

By Larry Chase

“One of the last times I saw Robert Frost,” Howard
Munford was telling an attentive, overflow gathering
in Dana Auditorium, “was in the living room of Beth
and Paul Cubeta. He was slouched at his ease in a
comfortable chair, and I remember him saying: ‘I feel
at home in Middlebury, I have so many friends in and
around town, and I am a registered voter here.’ ”

The occasion for the gathering, on March 26, was the
100th anniversary of Robert Frost’s birth. Marked na¬
tionally by the issue of a postage stamp honoring the
poet, the centennial was being observed locally by an
afternoon “Homage to Robert Frost,” a series of read¬
ings, reminiscences and commentary given by members
of Middlebury’s Department of American Literature.

Though Frost never attended or taught at Middle¬
bury, he received an honorary degree in 1924, and his
informal association with the Bread Loaf School of
English and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, both
College summer programs, lasted from the 1920s until
the poet’s death in 1963. Today the Frost cabin in Rip-
ton, where the poet summered for many years, is a
National Historic Site owned by the College and main¬
tained in the condition Frost left it in after his last
summer there. Middlebury also maintains a Robert
Frost Room of manuscripts and memorabilia in Starr
Library.

Of the six participants in Middlebury’s afternoon
“homage,” three knew the man as well as his poetry:
Reginald L. “Doc” Cook ’24, the Charles A. Dana Pro¬
fessor Emeritus of American Literature, and director
of the School of English from 1946 to 1964; Howard
M. Munford ’34, chairman of the American Literature
department and current holder of the Dana Professor¬
ship; and Horace P. Beck, professor of American liter¬
ature. The remaining three, younger, know the man
only through his legacy of poetry: John J. Conron, an
assistant professor who received his Ph.D. in 1970;
and Middlebury seniors Stephen A. Collier and Sheila
G. Bamford, neither of whom had reached their teens
at the time of the poet’s death.

Their different approaches toward Frost the man and
Frost the poet gave the Middlebury audience an un¬
usual glimpse of the richness and complexity that
scholars are finding in Frost’s seemingly simple lines,
as well as of the warmth and subtlety of the man him¬
self.

Robert Frost about to give one of his annual lectures
in the Little Theater at Bread Loaf.

“Doc” Cook, who knew Frost longest among the
speakers, and who has published one Frost Book {The
Dimensions of Robert Frost) and prepared another
{Robert Frost: The Living Voice) to be published
shortly, summarized Frost’s long, informal association
with the College very simply: “We would have to be
altogether obtuse not to realize how much, uncon¬
sciously, he altered our campus scene.”

He went on to recall: “On the six occasions when
Frost appeared formally at the College, he had large,
enthusiastic audiences. But also on at least one occasion
he talked two consecutive hours in the American lit¬
erature classes, and visited the Egbert Starr library,
especially the Abernethy library of American litera¬
ture, where I once heard him unravel the intricate
threads in the family story of Emily Dickinson’s re¬
lationship at Amherst. After the formal talks, he
chatted for hours informally with the students and
continued his spell-binding monologue elsewhere. Once
I recall listening to him until 3:30 a.m. Believe it or
not, he was, like Emerson’s poet, ‘tipsy on water.’
Great talk it was, the most intoxicating I have ever
heard: full of ideas, sprinkled with stories and quoted

SPRING 1974

3

At Bread Loaf campus in the prime of life.

poetry, allusive and witty. One of the great things was
the voice. Brushed by the presence of genius, we never
mistook his easy cavalier manner and sotto voce state¬
ments for the rural airs of an unsophisticated country¬
man. If he talked about Horace as though Frost had
just strolled down the road from the Sabine farm, his
off-hand quoting of Latin belied any rusticity. And
invariably, a strain of levity in his seriousness and
hard-core gravity in his sly and roguish play made us
realize how complex he was.”

After summing up Frost’s historical place in litera¬
ture—“It will be in the thoughts of the heart that the
vigorous claim of his poetry will linger for the on¬
coming generations”—Cook closed his talk, “A Middle-
bury Attachment,” with an anecdote:

“Once, on a late, cool, September night at the Homer
Noble farm [on which the Frost cabin is located], when
Frost was 83, we stood under the stars, the dew thick
on the grass, gazing raptly at a brilliant display of
northern lights, ‘Hold out your hand,’ Frost urged,
‘and you’ll see it in the light.’ So we stood there, facing
north with our hands extended, and they appeared
palely in the marvellous illumination. ‘There’s the
Heimdal Bridge, see?’ he said, where a band of light
soared above the horizon. ‘That’s where the gods went.’
We stood together for some minutes and, as we looked
skyward, one by one he pointed out the constellations,
and then named the separate stars. While Frost had
seen the northern lights in the perspective of Norse
mythology, I was seeing them in the perspective of
Frost. Although neither of us heard the sound of Heim-
dal’s war-horn nor witnessed the trembling rainbow of
Bifrost’s bridge, this moment brought the poet, the
place and the time together in a rare attachment.”

Next to speak was Horace Beck, a scholar of Amer¬
ican folklore and author of the just-published 463-page
volume Folklore and the Sea. A droll, gaunt, Ripton hill
farmer (he raises sheep) when he is not attending to
scholarly duties, Beck characterized Frost as “above
all else a student of New England folklore and folk-
life,” dealing with “the subsistence hill farmers of
Northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ver¬
mont. . . Buttressing his assertions with references
to specific poems, Beck listed such familiar folk sub¬
jects in Frost’s poetry as “mending walls . . . planting,
mowing, picking flowers, chasing cows and horses,
gathering apples, treading leaves in the fall, cutting
wood in the winter, splitting it in late winter and
drawing sap just before the winter has all gone.” He
also called attention to Frost’s portrayals of folk atti¬
tudes and biases: the attribution of human qualities to
natural and man-made objects, distrust of outsiders,
superstition, the necessary wedding of vocation and
avocation, pride of work, love of place, use of back-
country language. Beck’s conclusion:

“Poets do many things. Some invent new and in¬
scrutable forms. Others pose riddles or set up vast
philosophical programs for us to follow. Frost has a
different role. He always reminded me of a host of old
Sw r amp Yankees. But most of the hill people are inar¬
ticulate. Mr. Frost begins his poetry by being the
articulate Yankee, the speaker for the folk. He was one
of them—the last time I saw him he was drenching a
horse. And he knew them.”

Howard Munford began with a broad claim: “Robert
Frost will continue to be a living presence in the minds
and hearts of those who read his poetry with the atten¬
tion, discrimination and sensitivity it demands, and
that will be for as long as poetry is ever read.” The
paper he later read, “Frost as a Love Poet,” was in
effect a brief in support of that claim.

4

MIDDLEBURY

Recalling a remark that Frost had once made to him
—“Most people just don’t know how to read me”—
Munford focussed on a “constellation” of poems deal¬
ing, though not always obviously, with love and sex.
That focus was to make a point: that “Robert Frost is
the most famous but least known poet of our time”—
least known in the sense that “the subsurface complex¬
ities and elusiveness” contain a richness and profun¬
dity requiring a high degree of reader sensitivity. Such
poems as “Putting in the Seed,” “The Subverted
Flower,” “West-running Brook,” “The Master Speed,”
and “Maple,” Munford continued, all exemplify a sim¬
ilar Frost theme: “a man and a woman ... in a right
relationship to the universe by virtue of being in a
right relationship with one another in the creative
union of male and female.”

Among the younger voices, John Conron spoke about
“Frost as a Meditative Poet.” Author of the just-
published The American Landscape: Prose and Poetry ,
a study of the various uses of environment by Ameri¬
can writers, Conron made the claim that “Frost is both
a poet of nature and a poet of the self.” “Frost’s po¬
etry,” he observed, “is a poetry of meditation in which
nature becomes either the object of meditation or the
place in which the meditation takes place.” Noting that
Frost’s landscapes “are not scenery, nor are they
pretty,” he quoted lines of poetry to show “something
of how he creates by his meditations the interplay of
natural process and human perception, of motion in

space and sympathetic motion in mind and feeling.”

Seniors Sheila Bamford and Stephen Collier, reading
papers derived from their academic work, commented
on individual poems. In discussing “Two Look at Two,”
Miss Bamford synthesized the earlier commentary of
Munford and Conron by concluding: “And so it is a
harmony with man, a union and unity in love that is
being recognized and blessed by nature in this poem.
. . . It is in communion and coupling with each other
that we find a communion in nature, in returning to
the possibility of renewal in ourselves that we find our
natural sources and beginnings. The poem ends on the
word ‘love’ as it began, and finds in this, the constant
circling of nature’s renewing cycle, a return to origins
and that power which gives us birth.”

Collier’s reading and analysis of “Birches” showed
how Frost used a simple metaphor from nature—a boy
swinging on a birch tree—to examine a part of the
philosophy of William James, whom Frost often times
called “the greatest teacher I ever had.” James, accord¬
ing to Collier, “insisted that thought is for the sake
of action, and that the only way to measure the sig¬
nificance of any idea is to measure its impact on actual
experience.” The boy’s swing, he contended, “bounded
by an imaginative climb and an earthy landing, is the
essence of a Jamesian approach to life. ... By sheer
strength of human will, the birchswinger conquers
heaven and then wrestles it right back down to earth
where it can be of some use.”

SPRING 1974

5

When unshakable Principal meets adverse Circumstance, bet on the Piincipa
—if he’s a barrel-chested, rock-ribbed, hard-nosed Vermonter with a vision.

The Iron-willed Black Schoolmaster
and his Granite Academy

By the Editor

The first black citizen to earn a degree at an American college or university was a native
Vermonter and he graduated in 1S2S from Middlebury College.

He would also be the first negro member of the state's General Assembly and quite
possibly of any state legislatun in America. But his great accomplishment was that of educator:

hi sei ms to havi modi a strong cud abiding impression on an estimated
3 y 200 youngsters , some of whom, fanning out across the Northeast and into the just-opening lands
of the Midwest , iconic! rise to positions of significant responsibility in their communities.

i eat monument to his zeal for their instruction stands, today, on a remote hilltop in
northeastern Vermont—a massive , four-story granite academy built in 1S31+-36 at his instigation
and direction.

When Alexander Lucius Twilight entered Middle¬
bury in 1821 with the advanced standing of Junior,
he had just turned 26. The College, itself, had just
turned 21; it consisted of President Joshua Bates,
four professors, three tutors, and 80 students. Painter
Hall, then known as the “West College” had been open
for four years but the “East College” down the hill—
a three-story frame building shared with the Addison
County Grammar School—was still in use. James
Monroe was completing his first term as President;
the Erie Canal was one-third built; and Bonaparte
had just died of arsenic poisoning on St. Helena.

Alexander was the third of six children born to Icha-
bod and Mary Twilight. The couple had moved from
Plattsburgh, N.Y. in the spring of 1792 to Bradford,
Vermont (in the Connecticut River Valley 30 miles
north of White River Junction) and then, sometime
within the next three years, to Corinth, 8 or 10 miles
west of Bradford. At some time in his youth, Alex¬
ander was indentured to a neighboring farmer, but
by diligent saving was able at age 20 to purchase his
remaining year and to enroll at Randolph Academy,

some 20 miles over the hills to the southwest.

Although entirely self-supporting, he was able to
complete in the next six years, 1815-21, both the
secondary-school courses and the first two years of
college-level curriculum. In August of 1821, he enrolled
at Middlebury.

When he graduated in August of 1823, no other
negro American had ever earned a baccalaureate from
a college or university. 1

Among Alexander’s 17 classmates in 1823, nine
would be ordained, six become lawyers, one a teacher,
and two make fortunes in business (one, Joseph Bat-

1 Three years later Amherst graduated Ernest Jones, the son of a
hotel keeper and caterer in Charleston, S.C., and Bowdoin, whose
commencement was three weeks after Amherst’s, graduated John
Russworm, a Jamaican who had prepared for college in New York
City. Oberlin College, which probably contributed more to the
education of blacks before 18G5 than any other college in
America, granted its first AB to a negro in 1844. An Oberlin
freshman, Richard Greener, transferred to Harvard in 1865 and
became the first black Harvard College graduate in 1870—
although three others had taken degrees in 1869 from Harvard s
graduate schools of Law, Medicine, and Dentistry, respectively.
Meanwhile, Martin Henry Freeman, from Rutland, had graduated
from Middlebury in 1849. Middlebury’s third black student in the
19th century was Mary Annette Anderson *99, from Shoreham, Vt.

6

middlebury

tell, would give Battell Chapel to Yale). 2

Twilight’s first job was teaching school in an Adi-
rondacks frontier community, Peru, N.Y., where he
met, and in 1826 married, Mercy Ladd Merrill who
was nine or ten years his junior. Her double surname
suggests that she may have been a young widow. She
was probably the younger sister of Daniel Ladd ’32;
at least, they were born a year apart in the tiny village
of Unity, N.H.

Meanwhile, Twilight had been studying theology
and in 1827 was licensed to preach by the Champlain
Presbytery in Plattsburgh. After four years in Peru,
Twilight moved back across the lake to teach in Ver-
gennes. On weekends he walked out to preach on alter¬
nate Sundays in the neighboring towns of Waltham
and Ferrisburg. After a year in Vergennes, Twilight,
at age 34, was invited to take over from Isaac Parker
’15 the preceptorship of the Orleans County Grammar
School at Brownington, Vt.

When he arrived in Brownington in August, 1829,

2. Not to be confused with his nephew, Joseph Battell '60, whose
benefactions were to Middlebury.

“Athenian Hall ”, built by Twilight in 1831^-36 on
hill in Brownington , Vt., is now open in summer as a
museum of the Orlean County Historical Society.

Twilight found near the top of a great broad hill a
two-story frame schoolhouse. The grammar school
was only five years old and was supported by state
land rents collected within the county. It drew chil¬
dren from all of Orleans County’s newly settled towns,
and these pupils were housed and boarded in the neigh¬
boring homes in the village. Like much of the county,
Brownington had been settled by Revolutionary War
veterans who had been given land by the state for
their war service. Organized in 1799, it was in 1829
a thriving hilltop village of 400 inhabitants astride the
principal stage route between Montreal and Boston,
via Stanstead, the Connecticut River Valley, and Con¬
cord, N.H.

Twilight moved into a small three-room house, a
few hundred yards east of the school, and proceeded
at once to build a larger home in front of it. In these
years, 1829-34, Twilight was not only principal of the
grammar school but also minister of the village church,
whose members worshipped in the assembly room on
the second floor of the school.

But enrollment was growing so fast that it was tax-

SPRING 1974

7

1

.

I

Mercy Ladd Merrill Twilight

First grammar school stood opposite the Samuel Hall house,
seen here f rom church yard.

Mercy Ladd Merrill, probably a widoived sister of
Daniel Ladd '32, was married to Twilight in 1826, shared
in his labors at Brownington and outlived him by 21 years.
Daniel Ladd was missioyiary in Turkey 1836-67, married
sister of Harvey Kitchell '35, President of College 1866-73.

ing both classroom space and available accommoda¬
tions in town. Twilight pressed his board of trustees
for a larger building but couldn’t gain the support of
a majority. Finally in 1834 he, himself, laid out a
foundation plan on land across the road from his house
—for a building 36 x 66 feet. Resigning his pastorate,
he proceeded to build, in the next two years, what
must have seemed in its day a gargantuan granite
academy. It contained in three floors a kitchen, dining
room, music parlor, 14 student rooms, and 6 recitation
rooms, and on the fourth floor two classrooms, one a
20 x 40-foot assembly room large enough, probably, to
accommodate the entire student body. That this per¬
haps largest, and certainly stoutest, academy building
in all Vermont should have been erected way up in the
northernmost reach of the state, without financial
backing from the county or even much support from
within the village itself—testified to the raw power,
physical and spiritual, of the man.

No correspondence, plans, or other contemporary
documents concerning the construction have been lo¬
cated. It is not known how the building was funded.
Our best source 3 writes that “on his own resources he

8

M IDDLEBURY

Twilight was headmaster of original Orleans County Grammar
School, above, from 1829 until sometime after 1886 ivhen
classes were moved into “Athenian Hall”. Sunday services were
held upstairs for first 17 years until church (right) was built
next door in 181+1. Frame school building ivas built in 1823-21+ as
gift of local farmer and lawyer who had emigrated from

Norwich , Conn.

set to work and built the granite house” . . . whatever
exactly that means (italics added). Others say that
Cyrus Eaton, who had just built on land adjacent,
loaned Twilight substantial funds to finance construc¬
tion. 3 4 The large granite stones were split from huge
boulders deposited in adjacent fields by glacial action;
the granite comes from the Laurentian Range in Que¬
bec. Some say the boulders were split by drilling rows
of holes, 2V 2 inches deep, with a hammer and star
drill, driving dry wooden pegs into them and soaking
the pegs with water. 5 The slabs were dressed to size
with hammer and chisel. The stones average 12 inches
high but vary in length from 2 to 6 feet (some lintels
are 8 feet or more). The granite wall was 9 to 10 inches
thick; its inner face was blocked in with brick and
furred out with lath and plaster giving a total wall
thickness of 18 to 20 inches. According to hearsay, an

3. Rev. Clark Ferrin (UVM ’45), pastor in the neighboring town of
Barton, 1850-54, writing in 1868. Ferrin could have known
Twilight in 1852-54.

4. Communication from Mrs. Daniel Herrick, owner of the Hall
house, who has extensively researched the local history.

5. Others say the slabs were split oil by hammering iron wedges
inserted in the holes.

ox turning a bullwheel lifted the great stones onto a
temporary platform erected on the inside of the walls
—to take advantage of the transverse floor beams as
the building rose. The side walls are about 24 feet high
and the gable ends 41 feet. A 6-foot iron pry bar and
the ox yoke allegedly used during construction are ex¬
hibited in the building, today.

The structure offered, of course, neither central
heating nor indoor plumbing. A large stone-walled cis¬
tern at the back of the building collected rainwater
from the roof and supplied water to the kitchen
through a pipe laid beneath the kitchen floor. Out¬
houses were in a large barn, since removed, that stood
at right angles to the building off its southeast corner.
Besides the great kitchen fireplace, there were small
brazier “fireplaces” in each of the public rooms on the
lower two floors, to which live coals from the kitchen
were carried in small iron pots, daily. Brick flues from
these tiny fireplaces conducted the fumes to small
chimneys projecting through the roof in a row along
each side of the building. There were big iron stoves
in the 3rd-floor hall and in each of the two large class¬
rooms on the 4th floor.

SPRING 1974

9

Left , in east wall low white door led from pantry
onto covered porch along front of a barn t since
removed. Above , view west from in front of
Twilight's home shows academy on left and
church at end of road.

es:

•ill

Si

“S

Opposite: lower left , vital center of
boarding house ivas this large fireplace
where meals were cooked and bread
baked for entire school; from here
live coals to ere carried in iron pots to
tiny brazier alcoves , such as this
one (lower right) in dining room. Four
of original desks in J+th-floor assembly
hall show simple design using 2
planks. Twilight’s pulpit Bible is here
tobacco-stained by an untimely
pastoral sneeze.

First Brownington home of Alex and Mercy Twilight was small house at right ,
above , until schoolmaster could build larger house in front , with imposing Doric
pilasters framing front doo) %, 8 fan light and side lights. Soon after house ivas
completed , Twilight began the granite boarding house across the road.

When this great “Stone Boarding House” with its
65 windows was finally completed in 1836, its builder
with pardonable pride dubbed it “Athenian Hall.” Built
originally as a dormitory and boarding hall, it came
eventually to house the entire grammar school, class¬
rooms and all. (The original school building was moved
in 1869 some 300 yards down the hill where it has since
served as the community’s Grange Hall.)

But hardly was the last stone in place when Twilight
was sent by the town as their representative to the
State Legislature in Montpelier. His purpose was to
personally persuade his fellow legislators that the land
rents then supporting the Orleans County Grammar
School should not be divided between that school and
Craftsbury, whose citizens wanted to build their own.
Twilight’s position was that one good school was a lot
better than two so-so schools; and that if the County’s
meager resources for education were split two ways,
they could soon be split three, four, or ten ways and
thus be spread too thinly to do anybody any good.
(This was, indeed, what happened in the next 20 years,
Ferrin reports: the County was to be dotted with local
schoolhouses meagerly equipped, in which teaching
was of indifferent, and widely varying, quality. Be¬
cause in those days “normal schools” for teacher train¬
ing were almost nonexistent, 0 nearly all schools were

manned by amateurs. Good direction by an educated
and older headmaster, and the advice and example of
fellow teachers, were the only “teacher training” avail¬
able—and this could occur in the larger, all-County
schools, only.)

What short-term success Twilight had as a legis¬
lator is not known, but in any case he did serve in
the State Legislature during its meeting of 1836-37.
(The Speaker of the House was Carlos Coolidge ’ll,
of Windsor, who would later be Governor.) Not for
112 years would another black man be elected to that
body (when William Anderson, a Shoreham orchardist,
and younger brother of Mary Annette Anderson ’99,
was elected in 1948).

For the next 23 years Athenian Hall was alive to
the scuffling, shuffling, sniffling, coughing, whispering,
tittering, laughing flock of youngsters who were tast¬
ing the excitements of their first away-from-home
liberty. The school year was divided into four terms

6. The first in the nation was founded in 1823 at Concord Corners,
Vermont (east of St. Johnsbury) by Rev. Samuel Read Hall who
later would teach with Twilight at Brownington ( 1864-59?).

Hall authored the first textbook on pedagogy published in
America (Lectures on School-Keeping, 1829); he also nailed up
broad, smooth-planed, pine boards on the classroom wall, painted
them flat black, and proceeded to demonstrate the lesson, writ
large in chalk for all to follow . . . the beginning of a
pedagogical revolution—blackboard instruction.

SPRING 1974

11

fflmp ms

mmsmm.

Leon Perry, custodian of
Athenian Hall, holds iron pry
bar and massive ox yoke
used in construction in
1834-36.

From right end of covered large stone cistern at rear of Stone Boarding House,
ramp led to second floor of big bam that once stood in foreground. Large
chimney from kitchen fireplace once rose above sunlit, eastern wall; also
removed from above the loivcr eaves on each side was a row of smaller chimneys
from th< braziei fireplaces. Twilight homt is seen in right background .

Was Alexander Twilight, in

The only photograph, a daguerro-
type taken sometime between 1840
and 1855, presents a likeness without
obvious negroid features, and early
photographs are unreliable indicators
of skin color. Moreover, none of the
writings about Twilight mention
anything about his race. What evi¬
dence is there that he was colored?

There is hearsay evidence—in the
College; in Corinth, Vt., his birth¬
place; and in the Brownington area—
but more conclusively there is the
Federal census of 1800 which listed
his parents, his siblings, and himself
as non-white, and non-Indian—leaving
a strong presumption that they were
black.

First, the hearsay: when the

Burlington Free Press, commenting
on William Anderson’s election to the
Legislature in 1948, stated that he
was the first negro ever to serve, a
lady in Newport (Orleans County),
Vermont wrote in “Not so!”—Alex¬
ander Twilight of Brownington, she
said, held that distinction. When
inquiry was then made of the College,
Dean E. J. Wiley replied that “Pro¬
fessor Duane Robinson . . . remembers
distinctly having heard Dean
Walter E. Howard, who was a mem¬
ber of the Class of 1871 at Middlebury
and who had an extensive knowledge
of Vermont history, say that Twi¬
light was a negro . . .” (letter in
Alumni office files). Recent inquiries
of residents in the Brownimrton area

suggest that the prevalent local
understanding is that Rev. Twilight
was black. Finally, the history of
Corinth, Vt. states that his parents,
Ichabod and Mary Twilight, were
“both colored.”

The Federal census of 1800 (see
portion reproduced at right) places
Ichabod and the five members of his
family in the category normally
assigned free negroes in that census:
“All other free persons, except In¬
dians not taxed.” Since photographs
indicate that Alexander was not
oriental, and the census declares he
was neither “white” nor Indian, we
must conclude that he was, indeed, one
of the 557 black American citizens
then resident in Vermont.

of 12 weeks each. Tuition was $2 per term for “com¬
mon English’’; $3 per term for Latin, Greek, Italian,
Spanish, or “higher English”; $3.50 for written and
spoken French; and 50<* for vocal music. A course of
lectures was also given in natural philosophy, chem¬
istry, geology, astronomy, botany, and agriculture.
Students were required to study from 9:00 AM until
7:00 PM—presumably with time out for lunch. Each
recitation period was ended by the ringing of a hand¬
bell in the hallway. On Sunday attendance at church
was required and on Sunday evenings Mr. Twilight
gave a course of instruction in the Bible.

Among the Brownington Academy alumni prepared
in this manner were James W. Strong, the first presi¬
dent of Carleton College (1870-1903) in Northfield,
Minnesota; William B. Strong, president of the Atchi¬
son, Topeka & Santa Fe (1880-89) ; Henry Strong,
mayor of Beloit, Wisconsin; Portius Baxter, UVM
’27, who was a member of Congress from Vermont
throughout the Civil War; Tyler Stewart, a U.S.
Consul to Spain; and Brig.-Gen. Stephen P. Jocelyn,
who served in both the Civil and Spanish-American
Wars.

In 1847 Twilight, now 52, after 18 years of continu¬
ous duty retired the principalship of Brownington
Academy for reasons unknown and moved into Quebec,
where he taught for two years at Shipton (a name
that seems to have disappeared from today’s maps)
and for two more years at Hatley, a village a few
miles north of the U.S. boundary. The Brownington
school was kept going until the fall of 1851 by the Rev.
William Scales ’32 (a classmate of Daniel Ladd). Then
for three terms, the school was closed until, in the

When the headmaster stepped out of his second-floor office ,
he proceeded by this stairway to front door or to dining room.

All walls and ceilings were plastered but no floors or
woodwork above first level were painted. Among memorabilia
in Twilight's office , today , (below, right) is his elegant pony-
skin-covered wooden trunk bearing his mitials in brass tacks.

SECOND CENSUS OF THE UN

ORANGK COUNTY -Contin

Rogers, John
Itoiui, Ephrom
Hum, Horatio

Taplin, Nathan
Tuplm, William
Tenny, Jonathan
Tenny, Jonathan Jr
Tinny,Joshua
Thurston, John
Tilletson, Widow
Towle, Bracket
Twilight, Ichabod

Smith, Samuel
Stratton, lti-nj
Stratton, Sunn
Swift, Joshua

Terbut, Thillip
Truadale, Aaro
Truadale, Thor
Tyler, Samuel

Wasson, Caldwell
Wassun, Thomas
Well9, Jacob

f

SPRING 1974

13

summer of 1852, Twilight was induced to return, as
headmaster and as minister. He held forth in the pul¬
pit for only one more year, then resigned. Perhaps
the same faction in the community who may have
precipitated his resignation from the school, six yeais
ago, again forced his withdrawal from the pulpit. The
record shows, at any rate, that he was not dismissed
—the customary Congregational procedure—so there
may have been a schism in the community. 7

He continued however to direct the grammar school
for another two years until, in October of 1855, he
suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed.

He had given 21 years to the Brownington Academy
whose great “Stone House” stood a monument to his
indefatigable will and tireless exertions. He died at
age 62, exhausted but fulfilled.

After his death in June 1857, his body was buried
at the front corner of the churchyard, in a spot nearest
the church where he had preached, nearest the original
grammar school he had led, and nearest the great
granite academy he had built. The Academy limped
along for two more years but closed forever in 1859
and its furnishings were sold at auction.

Mercy Ladd Merrill Twilight lived on, alone, for
another 21 years, and her remains were buried beside
her husband’s. The writer found no record of any chil¬
dren born to the Twilights, although a writer in 1929
believed there had been two sons. 8

Thus lived and died America’s first black college
graduate—who devoted his life to educating the chil¬
dren and grandchildren of the pioneers who had
settled Vermont’s “Northeast Kingdom.”

7. The Congregational Churchca of Vermont and Their Ministry,
17G2-19\2, compiled by John M. Comstock.

8. Reference 6.

Gravestones of Alexander and Mercy Twilight stand
facing their greater and more enduring monument.

Born in 1795 when Washington was President, when
Jane Austen was 20, and both Napoleon and the future
Duke of Wellington were 26, Twilight died while Dar¬
win was completing his Origin of Species and Wagner
was writing Tristan and Isolde; at home the Dred
Scott decision was agitating the North and Lincoln
was preparing to debate the issues with Stephen Doug¬
las ( AM ’51); Woodrow Wilson and Louis Brandeis
were each one year old.

While the ripples of Twilight’s influence still widen
unseen throughout the land, the visible sign of his
indomitable spirit stands, as it may for centuries to
come, on a windswept country hill in northern Vermont.

References

The problem in researching Alexander Twilight’s
life is that there are no original documents and only
one reasonably close secondary source (Ferrin). Most
other accounts seem to be based on Ferrin—plus ran¬
dom bits of hearsay.

1. Essay on “Rev. Alexander Twilight” written in 1868
by Clark E. Ferrin; included in history of Browning-
ton, Vermont, in Vermont Historical Gazeteer , Vol.
Ill, pp. 101-104, compiled by Abby Hemenway. Pub¬
lished 1877.

2. History of Corinth, Vermont 1764-1964, by Corinth,
Vt. History Committee chaired by Marguerite Jack-
man, 1964. Lists birthdates of Ichabod and Mary
Twilight’s 6 children.

3. Heads of Families at the Second Census of the U.S.
Taken in the year 1800, Vermont. (Vermont His¬
torical Society, 1938) p. 88.

4. “To Build and to Preserve,” story of Brownington

Academy, by Elbert C. Cole ’15; Middlebury College
News Letter, Spring 1959. Has nine-item bibli¬
ography.

5. “The Old Stone House,” by Florence Waters, pp.
83-87 in The Vermonter , Vol. 34, No. 6 (June 1929).

6. “Pioneer,” brief essay on Twilight by William R.
Cole ’22, Middlebury College News Letter, Spring
1936.

7. Contrary Country by Ralph Nading Hill (Stephen
Greene Press, 1950) ; pp. 108-110.

For their assistance during the preparation of this
article, the writer thanks Edith Herrick of Brownington
and Princeton for her considerable help with many his¬
torical questions; and Emory Hebard ’38 of Glover, Vt.,
Edward Alexander of Barton, Vt., president of the
Orleans County Historical Society, and Leon Perry,
custodian of the building, for assisting the writer’s
examination of the Old Stone House.

14

MIDDLEBURY

ALUMNI NEWS

MILESTONES

Marriages

1952 John J. Vlahos and Nartha Bybee *59 May 2, 1965

18 Arlington Ct., Kensington, Calif. 94707

1953 Richard L. Brown, Jr. ’53 and Jean Jones March 2, 1974

299 Mill Rd., Apt. 1504, Etobicoke, Ont. M9C 4V9, Canada
1960 Mr. Stevens, and Sandra Storm Laurin ’60

15 Winding Way, Short Hills, N. J. 07078

1963 William H. Slattery and Margaret Friederichs ’63 May, 1973

500 East 85th St., Apt. 16, New York, N. Y. 10028
Peter Buckley and Susan Washburn ’63 May 12, 1973

140 East 83rd St., New York, N. Y. 10028

1966 Edward Kubicka and Kristina Albright ’66 Nov. 3, 1973

Box 228, Lebanon, N. J. 08833

Thomas Armistead ’66 and Michele Rose Aug. 4, 1973

1021 Central Ave., Wilmette, Ill. 60091
Dr. Bruce C. MacKinnon ’66 and Kathleen Meyers

Robinson ’66 Nov. 22, 1973

15 Gold St., Stonington, Conn. 06378

1967 Richard Bingham Taylor ’67 and Joyce A. Speer Dec. 7, 1973

30 Carlingford Rd., London NW 3, England

1968 Paul T. Du Vivier and Michele Mackellar ’68 Sept. 22, 1973

Box 335, Crosswicks, N. J. 08515

John J. Bennett and Cynthia Krieble ’68 Dec. 16, 1971

207 So. Ruby St., Ellensburg, Wash. 98926
1968, ’69 Robert Mygatt ’68 and Patricia Horton ’69 Dec. 8,1973

Box 1711, Boulder, Colo. 80302

1969 F. Winchester Chromec ’69 and Elizabeth Campbell ’69 July 11, 1970

RFD, Worcester, Vt. 05682

1970 John F. Teague and Christine Sanborn ’70 Dec. 8, 1973

580 Route 3-A, Concord, N. H. 03301
David W. Carpenter and Jane French ’70 Aug. 18, 1973

81 Park Dr., Apt. 6, Boston, Mass. 02215

1970, ’71 Robert Whittaker ’71 and Anne Hayes ’70 Dec. 29, 1973

1971 Dr. John C. Good and Mary Rogers ’71 Oct. 6, 1973

91 Three Mile Rd., Glastonbury, Conn. 06033

1972 Raymond Acey and Sheila Swain ’72 Dec. 29, 1973

171 Pleasant St., New Britain, Conn. 06051
Douglas N. Lamont ’72 and Evelyn Zmudsky ’72 Dec. 28, 1973

97 Manomet Ave., Hull, Mass. 02045
Charles Miller and Susan Clark ’72 Dec. 29, 1973

426 East 15th St., Apt. 24, Bloomington, Ind. 47401
Mark Ellenberger ’72 and Ruth C. Loew Aug. 26, 1973

1915 Maple Ave., Apt. 402, Evanston, Ill. 60201
Malcolm E. Hill and Betsy Beyer ’72 July, 1973

524 Oceanview Ave., Apt. A, Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060

1973 Milo W. Peck ’73 and Ellen L. Korpela ’73 Dec. 15, 1973

RFD 1, West Lebanon, N. H. 03784

Samuel V. Woo and Mayra Nicasio ’73 Aug. 4, 1973

162 East 184th St., Apt. 5-E, Bronx, N. Y. 10468

SPRING 1974

15

Births

CLASS PARENTS

1959 Virginia Lyons Aliberti ’59 and Vincent Aliberti

1960 Priscilla and Russell Leng '60

Roberta Sperry Schweiger ’60 and Richard Schweiger
1962 Jane Volland Schoultz ’62 and Lars Schoultz

Ann and Dr. Alan Chaitin ’62

1964 Carol Clegg Hosking ’64 and Peter L. Hosking

1965 Mary Ann and Robert Eldred ’65

Elizabeth Nelson Master ’65 and John Master adopted

1966 Francine Clark Page '66 and Richard Page

1967 Ruth McKenzie Cannon '67 and Larry Cannon

1968 Mildred Spillane Pease ’68 and James Pease

1969 Christina Yates Berry ’69 and Dale Berry

1970. ’71 Deborah Erickson Calloway ’70 and Ronald Calloway ’71

1970, ’72 Linda Manning Morris ’

1899 Augusta Kelley Meigs (Mrs. George),
97, died Dec. 25. Following her grad¬
uation she taught in high schools in Massa¬
chusetts, Maine, So. Dakota, and San Mateo,
Crescent City, and Oceanside, Calif. She
had studied Latin and Archeology at Welles¬
ley and German for several summers at the
University of California. She married
George Meigs in 1922. Mrs. Meigs was a
member of Pi Beta Phi.

1904 Josephine M. Prentis, 92, died Jan.
8 in Utica. She was a science teacher

for many years and also served as dean of
sophomores at Utica Academy until her re¬
tirement in 1940. Miss Prentis was a mem¬
ber of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Beta Phi.

1905 Eliza Vickery, 90, died Jan. 26 in
Marblehead, Mass. Until her retire¬
ment she was employed by John Hancock
Insurance Co. in Boston for over thirty
years.

1914 Homer R. Denison, 90, died Dec. 23
in Becchhurst, N.Y. For many years

he was treasurer of the New Haven Good¬
will Industries in Connecticut. He is sur¬
vived by his wife, the former Gladys Bayliss.
Mr. Denison was a member of Kappa Delta
Rho.

1915 Florence Butler Woodward (Mrs.
Roy), 81, died Dec. 30. She attended

Middlebury for two years and then studied
at the Boston Conservatory of Music. In

1916 she married Leon Ellsworth who died
in 1951. In 1967 she married Roy Wood¬
ward who survives her with two sons, Butler
and Kirk-Holton Ellsworth. Mrs. Woodward
was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

1917 Olive A. Hall, 78, died November 18.
From 1916 to 1922 she was a teacher

72 and Christopher Morris ’70

Deaths

at Sanderson Academy, Ashfield, Mass, and
at Bay Path Institute. In 1924-25 she was
a student nurse at Massachusetts State Hos¬
pital and was then a nurse in various hos¬
pitals. Miss Hall was a member of Phi Beta
Kappa.

1918 Marie L. Champagne, 77, died Dec.
11. She had been a French teacher

in the Fitchburg (Mass.) High School from

1919 until her retirement in 1965. In 1924
she studied at the Institute de Touraine in
Tours. Miss Champagne was a member of
Pi Beta Phi.

1919 Eleanor Layton Miesse (Mrs. Gor¬
don), 76, died Nov. 21 in Mahwah,
N.J. Before her marriage in 1923 she taught
m Long Branch and Passaic, N.J. and was
school librarian in the Long Branch High
School. She is survived by her husband,
Gordon 20 and three daughters. Eleanor
was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi
Beta Phi.

1919 Sylvia Pastene Foote (Mrs. Ralph),
77, died Feb. 12 at a Rutland (Vt.)
Nursing Home following a long illness. In

1919 she married Ralph Foote T7, who died
in 1947. Survivors are two sons, Ralph and
Charles, and two daughters, Mrs. Theodore
Guglin (Janice ’50) and Mrs. Beran (Thalia).
Mrs. Foote was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

1920 William A. Huggard, 75, died Dec.
20 in St. Petersburg, Fla. From 1923

until his retirement in the sixties he was an
English professor at De Pauw University. He
had earned both a Master’s and a PhD at
the University of Iowa. During World War I
he served in the SATC at Plattsburgh and
Middlebury. Mr. Huggard was the author of
Emerson and the Problem of War and
Peace.” Survivors are his wife, the former
Edith Hagedon, and a son, Robert. Mr.

BABY

DATE

Elaine Lyons

Mar. 20,1973

Steven Frederick

Jan. 18,1974

Christine Sperry

June 2,1973

Nils Gibson

March 21,1972

Janna

Nov. 18,1973

Susan Jennifer

Dec. 12,1973

Joshua Farwell

Jan. 7,1974

Randall Pierce

July 4,1973

and

Joshua Benton

July 4,1973

Elizabeth

Dec. 11, 1972

Daniel Robert

Nov. 21,1973

Aimee

Jan. 9,1974

Susan Rebecca

Oct. 20,1973

Aisha Christine

Dec. 29,1973

Robert Christopher

Dec. 4,1973

Huggard was a member of Delta Upsilon.

1921 Ronald J. Darby, 80, died Dec. 29 in
Northampton, Mass. Following grad¬
uation from Middlebury he attended Harvard
Graduate School of Education where he
received his Master’s. He had been an in¬
structor at St. Paul’s School, and principal
of Hingham (Mass.) High School until 1937
when he became principal of Northampton
(Mass.) High School, a position he held un¬
til his retirement in 1964. He was one of
the most popular school administrators in
the Northampton area and on the occasion
of his retirement the school paper, The
Student's Review, published a two-page
supplement honoring him. During World
War I he was a lieutenant in the Army.
Survivors are his wife, the former Dorothy
Ellms, and a son, Lewis. Mr. Darby was a
member of Alpha Sigma Phi.

1921 Philip D. Aines, 74, died Dec. 28 in
Mount Dora, Fla. after a long ill¬
ness. He had been a physical education
teacher and coach for 42 years, serving for
28 years in New Rochelle, N.Y., until his
retirement in 1962. Survivors are his wife,
the former Evelyne Sutphen, and two sons,
Philip D., Jr. and Donald. Philip was a
member of Alpha Sigma Phi.

1923 Margaret Graham Davidson (Mrs.

Edward), 72, died June 23, 1973.
Following graduation from Middlebury she
attended Smith College School of Social
Work and was awarded an MS. She had
served as a social worker and director of
girls’ guidance in Vermont, Massachusetts,
New York and Connecticut, and director
of Scarsdale (N.Y.) Community Service. Mrs.
Davidson was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

1926 Mabel T. Thornley, 69, died Oct. 13

16

MIDDLEBURY

1

in East Providence, R.I. She retired last
year after teaching Home Economics for 47
years in the East Providence High School,
She was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

1926 James (Jay) A. Clark, 71, died early
this year. After graduation from Mid-
dlebury he was a student for two years at
Yale University’s “47 Workshop.” In 1928
he began his career as a staff writer with
Paramount Pictures. Later he was a free¬
lance in radio, a program producer with
Ted Bates, Inc., and since 1943 a director,
producer, actor, and playwright. He was the
author of The Quarry. In 1934 he married
Marion Rice and they had one son, Jay. Mr.
Clark was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

1926 Edward S. Twiehell, 70, died Dec.

31 in New Britain, Conn, following
a long illness. He was the president and
operator of Twiehell and Co., heating and
air conditioning. Survivors are his wife, the
former Gertrude Shaffer, two daughters,
Mrs. G. Alan Nelson, Mrs. Lewis McKeon
(Barbara ’72) and a son, Frederick '59. Mr.
Twiehell was a member of Chi Psi.

1926 Franklin W. Towne, 68, died sud¬
denly on Oct. 11 at the Rutland (Vt.)
Hospital. He had earned an MS at Colum¬
bia School of Business and had been an
accountant with the New York Steam Corp.
in New York, the Howe Scale Co., Rutland,
Vt., and secretary and office manager with
Black, Starr and Gorham and with Japan
Publications Trading Co. in Rutland, Vt.
until his retirement. He is survived by his
wife, the former Elizabeth Linley. Mr.
Towne was a member of Chi Psi.

1933 Harold R. Thayer, 62, died April 22,
1973. He had been a teacher in
Schroon Lake, Liberty, and East Hampton,
N.Y. High Schools until his retirement in
1969. During World War II he served in the
Army Air Corps as an instructor in the Army
Weather School at Chanute Field, Ill. He is
survived by a brother, Gerald ’31. Harold
was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

1942 Word has been received of the
death of Martha Collins Oeffner (Mrs.
E. F.). For many years she was an adver¬
tising assistant with Good Housekeeping
and later executive assistant to the director
of advertising with the Gray Manufacturing
Co. of New York. In 1955 she married Eu¬
gene Oeffner and they had two sons, Mark
and David. After her marriage she was an
executive assistant in public relations with
Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. in New York and
then an elementary teacher in Union Beach,
N.J. Martha was a member of Phi Mu.

1942 Word has been received of the sud¬
den death of Louise Sargent Jenks
(Mrs. Earl) on January 3. She was a student
dietitian and later staff dietitian at Massa¬
chusetts General Hospital, editor of the
Foods and Food Service Equipment section
in Southern Hospitah, and dietitian at the
Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. She
is survived by two sons, Brian and Alan, and
a daughter, Jane.

1947 Willard W. Chase, 51, died in New
London, N.H., January 18 after a
long illness. He had earned a Master’s in
classical languages at Columbia. From 1948
to 1960 he taught English and Latin and
was chairman of admissions at Blair Acad¬

emy; he was teacher of languages and
guidance director at Webster Academy,
1960 to 1970; and until 1973 assistant regis¬
trar at Johnson (Vt.) State College. Sur¬
vivors are his parents and a brother, the
Rev. Harold Chase. Willard was a member
of Alpha Sigma Phi.

1950 John L. Hamilton died Feb. 9 fol¬
lowing a short illness. Since 1953
he had been with the International Silver
Co. and at the time of his death was regional
sales director of the Northeast. In WAV. II
he served with the 134th Fighter Squadron.
Survivors are his wife, the former Sheila
Schmidt ’46, 3 sons, Michael ’74, David,
and Gregory and a daughter, Mary Jane.
Jack was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

1952 Mary Lou Thayer, 42, died suddenly
of a heart attack on Jan. 9. She
started her professional career with Curtis
Publishing Co. and was with them for six¬
teen years, serving as correspondent for
subscriber relations, subscription promotion
supervisor and production manager, and
finally manager of direct mail for the cir¬
culation department. In 1970 she became
an account executive with Ayer Direct, the
Direct Response Division of N. W. Ayer &
Son of Philadelphia. She had been very
active in community affairs and was listed
m Who’s Who in American Women. Sur¬
vivors are three brothers, Scott ’43, David,
and Paul, and a sister, Peggy. Mary Lou
was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

1957 Sarah Lentz Tichnor (Mrs. Robert)
died Dec. 15. She is survived by
her husband, Robert '55, and three children,
Stephen, 16, Richard, 14 and Robin, 10.

CLASS NOTES

Earle E. Haskins, Sec.
207 Hawthorne St.
Malden, Mass. 02148

Hilda Woodruff Gollnick (Mrs. Albert), who
lives on the outskirts of Middlebury, is a
very busy lady. She is president of the
Friends of the Ilsley Library in town, jour¬
neys about the state organizing concert
committees for the Vermont State Symphony
Orchestra, and is chairing the big Summer
Benefit Concert in July. Hilda also finds
time to do genealogical research and paint
miniature military figures for fun. Roger
Hall of Fort Fairfield, Me. reports that he
has not missed an annual fishing trip to the
Restigouche River in over 50 years. His
latest venture rewarded him with five sal¬
mon ranging from 12 to 19 pounds. Rog
also reports that he has not finished writing
his volume on the subject of Anticosti Is¬
land fishing and says that the owners of
that large island in the Gulf of St. Law¬
rence are attempting to sell it to the Province

of Quebec. Hadley and Priscilla Spear at¬
tended all of the Midd varsity football
games last fall except one. A pretty good
record for a couple living in central Massa¬
chusetts. Madeleine Gaylor has been hon¬
ored by her city of Fitchburg, Mass, for
the many years of conservation work she
has devoted to that area. Mandy has served
as Chairwoman of the Fitchburg Conserva¬
tion Commission. Recently the City Council
dedicated Greene’s Pond and a 47-acre wild¬
life preserve and recreation area in her
name.

Geraldine Wimmett Bums, Sec.

Box 478

Middlebury, Vt. 05753

The law firm in Worcester, Mass, of June,
Fletcher and Whipple of which Paris
Fletcher is a partner, has merged with
Tilton, Erskine and Berkeley and will be
known as Fletcher, Tilton and Whipple. The
new firm will maintain a general practice
with emphasis on banking, trial, corporate,
probate, and tax law.

Henry Happ, Sr., Sec.

8018 Cherokee Rd.

Richmond, Va. 23225
Ruth A. Dodge, Sec.

6 Kcnworth Avc.

Troy, N.Y. 12180

Ralph DeGroff, a trustee of The Holland
Society of New York, headed a committee
in charge of the publication of New York
Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, previously
unpublished New Netherlands records trans¬
lated from the Dutch.

Joseph L. Finnegan, Sec.

176 Millbum Ave.

Milbum, N.J. 07041
Gunhild Elfstrom Carlson, Sec
282-B Diamond St.

Deltona, Fla. 32763

Harry Graves has retired and is living at
955 So. Eliseo Dr., Green Brae, Calif. 94904.
Elliot Steams and his wife, Emeline, are
living at 6-A Nasturtium Ct., Aldersgate
Retirement Center, Orange City, Fla. 32763.
Elliot has been elected vice president of
Northern Florida District Shuflleboard As¬
sociation. Ruth Howland Merriam (Mrs.
William) retired last June from her position

SPRING 1974

17

I

as loan consultant in the Guaranty Bank
and Trust Co. Florence Wyman Palmer
(Mrs. Milan) has retired from the Aetna Life
and Casualty Co. after twenty years of
service. Blanche Walker Hiller (Mrs. Albert)
spent the winter on the island of St. Thomas.

Robert R. Herrick, See.

RFD 3

Middlebury, Vt. 05753
Helen Kendall Metger, See.

220 Ash St.

Corinth, N Y. 12822

Thomas Heney is director of the Practicing
Law Institute at 1133 Avenue of the Ameri¬
cas in New York. Harry Tomlinson has re¬
tired as analyst with HEW Bureau of
Hearing and Appeals, and is living at 101
Essex House, Port ( harlotte, 1 la. 33952.

Edward W. Markowski, Sec.

1705 Ridge Rd.

North Haven, Conn. 06473
Ella Congdon Purple, Sec.

78 Madison St.

Hamilton, N.Y. 13346

Daniel Braymer has retired as editor of
Electrical World (McGraw-Hill) and is liv¬
ing at 5 Quaker St., Granville, N.Y. 12832.
William Davis is a chemistry teacher in the
Falmouth, Me. School District and is living
at 25 Dirigo St., Portland 04102.

Dr. Lester J. Evans, Sec.

148 Revere Street Ext.

Waterbury, Conn. 06708
Dorothy Williams Powell, Sec.

312 S. W. Tenth St., Apt. 1
Gainesville, Fla. 32601

Mark Richmond has retired as assistant di¬
rector of the Bureau of Prisons. His address
is RFD, Brookfield, Vt. 05036.

Paul W. Foster, Sec.

3229 Marquette
Dallas, Tex. 75225
Joy Ruhr Bcmo. Sec.

1310-L Colbury Rd.

Baltimore, Md. 21239

Dr. William Craig, formerly president of
Johnson (Vt.) State College, be came chan¬
cellor of the Vermont State Colleges in
January. Caroline Elliott Dorst (Mrs. Stan¬
ley) of Nashua, N.H. and Caroline Parker
presented a four-hand piano recital to bene¬
fit the New London (N.H.) Hospital last
August. She has given many musical pro¬
grams in the past, accompanied the com¬
munity chorus of Williamstown, Mass, for
about 20 years, and sung in the Dartmouth
summer chorus and the Chorale J. S. Bach
dc Paris. She has studied privately for many
years with Elen Foster, a concert artist in
Paris, with Claude Frank, pianist with the
Boston Symphony and Chamber Players, and
with Joaquin Nin-Culmettl, composer and
concert artist. Mrs. Dorst gives piano lessons
in the winter and presents a student recital
each spring.

(Class notes continued on page SO)

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

April Balloting will Elect

New Voices to Board’s Deliberations

For three Alumni- Trustee seats, slate oj ten offered.

The nominating committee of the Alumni
Council is pleased to nominate the following
candidates for Alumni Trustee. The classes
from 1901-1971 will nominate two alumnae
for a four-year term to begin July 1, 1974
and one alumnus for a one-year term to fill
the unexpired term of John M. Kirk ’39 who
was elected a Charter Member last spring.
Brief biographies of the candidates appear
below. Balloting will be conducted by mail
in April.

For Four-Year Term

Mildred Becker Bennett ’41 (Mrs. Shirley
C.), 83 Pittsford Way, New Providence, N.J.
07974; 11 years teacher (Special Education),
New Providence, N.J.; class secretary 1951-
56; president of NY/NJ Alumnae Associa¬
tion 1952-53; Co-chairman of Alumni Fund
1952-55. vice president of National Alumnae
Association 1961-63. Middlebury Plaque
Award—meritorius service to Alma Mater,
1961. executive vice president of Metropoli¬
tan New York division of Middlebury Col¬
lege Challenge Fund; president of Alumnae
Association 1966-68; member of committee
preparing new Middlebury Alumni Associa¬
tion constitution; chairman of Association
Constitution Revision Committee 1962-63;
committeeman New Providence Area, North¬
ern New Jersey District, General Campaign
175th Anniversary Fund.

Frances R. Hall ’57, 644 Benner Road, Allen¬
town, Pa. 18104; Director of Admissions,
Cedar Crest College, 1969-present, Assistant
Director of Admissions, Middlebury College,
1964-69; Science teacher, Glen Rock, N.jl
1960-64; chemical research assistant, Union
Carbide Corporation, Parma, Ohio, 1957-
60, Middlebury College, 175th Anniversary
Campaign, Central Penn., Chairman; Mid¬
dlebury College, Annual Fund class team
leader, 1973-74; American Association of
Collegiate Registrars and Officers of Admis¬
sion-Committee of Undergraduate Finan¬
cial Aid; Pennsylvania Association of College
Admissions Counselors—Admissions Princi-
£ i, and Practices Committee, School and
College Relations Committee; Soroptimist

Club International—local Citizenship Awards
chairman.

Paula Knight Jeffries ’45 (Mrs. Donald W.),
3108 Q Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20007;
Draftsman, MIT Radiation Laboratory and
Harvard Radio Research Laboratory, 1945-
46; test administrator, Human Engineering
Laboratory (Boston) 1946-50; personnel of¬
ficer, MIT 1950-59. Married Donald W.
Jeffries in 1959; vice president, Boston Mid¬
dlebury Alumnae Association, 1948-50; pres¬
ident, 1950-52; class secretary 1955; founder
and president Washington Middlebury Alum¬
nae Association, 1960-68; delegate-at-large,
national Middlebury Alumnae Association,
1955-57; president, national Middlebury
Alumnae Association, 1968-70; president,
national Middlebury Alumni Association,

1970- 72; member 175th Anniversary Fund
Council. Second vice president 1965-67,
first vice president 1967-71, and president

1971- present, of The Hospitality and In¬
formation Service for diplomatic residents
and their families. District of Columbia
Board of the YWCA and Chairman of the
YWCA International Fair, 1972 and 1973.
Member Board of the Woman’s National
Democratic Club 1967-71.

Mary Wisotzkey McClellan ’45 ( Mrs. Bruce),
Foundation House, Lawrenceville, N.J.
08648; member Pi Beta Phi sorority; Chief
Justice; assistant alumnae secretary 1945-
46, class secretary 1945-50; organized Mid¬
dlebury College Choir concerts in Southern
New Jersey, 1971 and 1973; Annual Giving
team leader; chairman. Southern New Jer¬
sey district, General Campaign, 175th An¬
niversary Fund. Married Bruce McClellan in
York, Pa. in 1946. Bruce has been Head
Master of the Lawrenceville School since
1959. Parent of three children, aged 23, 17,
and 15. Taught nursery school and Sunday
school, 1954-57 Community interests in¬
clude Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church
(Elder; chairman of Sanctuary Committee;
member of 275th Anniversary Committee);
Lawrenceville Garden Club (chairman of
Juniors 1971-72. winning two State awards;
co-chairman Community Improvement Com¬
mittee, 1972-present); Woman’s Club of
Lawrenceville (treasurer, 1953, and former

18

MIDDLEBURY

For Four-Year Term

Mildred Becker
Bennett ’41

Paula Knight Jeffries ’45

Frances R. Hall ’57

Mary Wisotzkey
McClellan ’45

For One-Year Term

Cyrus P. Anfindsen ’56

David E. Thompson ’46

Kristine Bye ’73

Neilda C. Lee ’72

Lucy A. McCarthy ’72

Gail J. Littlefield ’73

member of Social Service and Scholarship
Committees); League of Women Voters (in¬
active), and Common Cause. Member of
Bucks County Historical Society, Doyles-
town, Pa., serving on the Museum Commit¬
tee for The Mercer Museum and as a volun¬
teer assistant to the curatorial staff.

For One-Year Term

Cyrus P. Anfindsen ’56, 31 Bayberry Road,
New Canaan, Ct. 06840; Certificate, London
School of Economics 1958 (Dutton Fellow¬
ship); two tours of duty as officer, U.S. Army
Reserve; business development, portfolio
manager, and analyst, United States Trust
Company of New York, 1959-65; institu¬
tional sales, Paribas Corporation, New York,
1956; presently senior vice president, Cyrus
J. Lawrence, Inc. an investment research
firm in New York City; chairman, Metropoli¬
tan New York Division General Campaign,
175th Anniversary Fund, and member of
175th Anniversary Council.

David E. Thompson ’49, 44 Brookside Road,
Needham, Mass. 02192; Delta Upsilon fra¬
ternity; Waubanakee; Blue Key; football
captain; Sargent and Co. Hardware Mfg.,
July 1949-March 1950, Builders Specialty
and Hardware Corp., 1950-55, (assistant
manager), Arlwood Corp., president 1955-
65; David E. Thompson, Inc. (construction
sales), president 1965-present; Member
American Society of Architectural Hardware
Consultants; 1st vice president, A.S.A.H.C.;

member and past chairman, N.E. Chapter
A.S.A.H.C.; member and past president,
N.E. Builders Hardware Club. Organized
Boston Alumni Club 1960, first president;
president of Mass. District of Associated
Alumni, 1966-69; Alumni dinner chairman
1967, 1968, 1969. 175th Anniversary Fund;
Member Special Gifts Committee of Greater
Boston Division, General Campaign.

And for Two-Year Term
This year the classes of 1972, ’73, ’74, and
’75 will elect a woman from the class of
1972 or ’73 to serve as Alumni Trustee for a
two-year term beginning July 1, 1974. The
nominating committee, Andy Reding for ’74,
David Tatgenhorst ’75, Curt Viebranz ’75,
Alan Levy '74, and Dean Erica Wonnacott
(advisor) are pleased to present the follow¬
ing candidates. Balloting will be held in
April and the candidate with the most votes
will be elected. She will replace Mary
Reardon ’70, whose term expires this June.

Kristine Bye ’73, Box 303, Morrisville, Vt.
05661. Cum Laude ; major Sociology-Anthro¬
pology. Member debate and speech team.
Headstart volunteer, Shannon Street School
volunteer, School Enrichment Program, Jun¬
ior Counselor, Sociology Advisory Commit¬
tee, Dean’s List, and Mortar Board. Teacher,
Morristown (Vt.) Elementary School.

Neilda C. Lee ’72, 913 Mary Street, Apt. 1,
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104. Major Economics.
Middlebury Conference, French Club,
WRMC, Mountain Club, Sophomore Guide,
Faculty Committee on Admissions, BSMU,
YOU Summer Program, Student Forum,
Financial Aid Committee, Grievance Com¬
mittee, Junior Counselor, and Mortar Board.
Student at Univ. of Michigan Law School.

Gail J. Littlefield ’73, 71 Lebanon Street,
Hamilton, N.Y. 13346. Magna cum Laude
and Phi Beta Kappa. Major French. Dean’s
List, assistant Brownie troop leader, cheer¬
leading captain, Curl Scout leader, secretary,
Environmental Quality, Dorm Council,
French Department Advisory Council, and
College Scholar. Spent junior year in France
under Vanderbilt Univ. program. Graduate
student, MAT program Colgate and teacher
of French at Norwich (N.Y.) High School.

Lucy A. McCarthy ’72, Apt. 205, 3720 Ma¬
comb, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016. Major
Political Science. Dean’s List, Board of Gov¬
ernors, Field Hockey team, Choral Society,
Sophomore Guide, Judicial Council (four
years), Chief Justice senior year. September
1972-May 1973 Assistant Registrar, Interna¬
tional School of Law, Washington, D.C.;
graduate student and MA candidate. Cath¬
olic University of America specializing in
Guidance and Counseling. Two evenings a
week counseling in a dormitory at the Wash¬
ington School of the Ballet. □

SPRING 1974

19

Nelson Easton '1*1

Robert Studley '55

Charles Baird '1*1*

Seely Thomas '51

Raymond R. Unsworth, See.

1700 Spear St.

South Burlington, Vt. 05401
Doris Lathrop Riggs, Sec.

46 Charles St.

Auburn, N.Y. 13021

Paul Cushman, systems engineer with Gen¬
eral Electric Ordinance Systems in Pitts¬
field, Mass., had an article “Calling the
Shots Through Tank Fire Control System
Simulation” published in the August, 1973
issue of International Defense Review. The
article describes a revolutionary new method
of evaluating fire-control systems. Paul, who
developed the Hit Probability Program, has
been responsible for the development of
several missile inertial guidance and control
systems since 1947. He holds patents for a
fluid magnetic clutch used in missile flight
control and for an induction motor control.
Dr. Nelson Easton has been named one of
five vice presidents of a new division to be
known as Lilly Research Laboratories of
Eli Lilly Co. which will consolidate and
direct the company's worldwide research
and development activities. Dr. Easton, for¬
merly an executive director of research, was
first employed by the Lilly firm as an organic
chemist in 1953.

Vance A. Richardson, Sec.
36 Bowdoin St.

Portland, Me. 04102
Ruth Delong Rude, Sec.
162 Woodbury Ave.
Stamford, Conn. 06907

Theodore S. Kolzak, Sec.

26 Treeborough Dr.

West Hartford, Conn. 06117
M. Janes Landes, Sec.

10 Cambridge Ct.

Larchmont, N.Y. 10538

John Stetson, head of the personnel division
of The First National Bank of Boston, has
been elected a senior vice president.

Donna Curtis Maxson, Sec.

15 Otis St.

Needham, Mass. 02192

Catherine Van Aken Smith (Mrs. David), a
member of the Connecticut State Board of
Education and a long-time advocate of the
cause of public education, has been hon¬
ored by the Chronicle of Hamden, Conn,
by being designated “Hamden's Citizen of
the Year.” James Ham has retired after
twenty-four years with the Federal govern¬
ment. His address is Route 1, Box 181,
Forest Lake, Fort Mill, S.C. 29715. Eliza¬
beth Holmgren Welles (Mrs.) is a teacher
and science coordinator at the Elisabeth
Morrow School in Englewood, N.J. and is
living at 17 Harsen Rd., Tenafly 07670.
Charles Baird, chief financial officer of
International Nickel Co., became a director
of the company in January.

Benjamin F. Bradley, Jr., Sec.

Julia Friend Bradley, Sec.

91 Crest Rd.

Ridgewood, N.J. 07450

Edward Welles is district sales manager
with the Paymaster Corp. in Greensboro,
N.C. His address is 2916 Freeman Mill Rd.,
Greensboro 27406.

I he Rev. Robert Fulton is headmaster of
the School of the Arts in New Jersey. His
address is PO Box 114, Stillwater, N.J.
07875. Richard Porter is business education
teacher in New Canaan, Conn, and lives at
79 Easton Rd., Westport 06880.

Duncan K. Law, Sec.

Constance Kelly Law, Sec.

Box 353

West Newbury, Mass. 01985

Charles James is director of the Office of
Near Eastern Affairs, Bureau for Asia. Mail

20

MIDDLEBURY

Philip Montgomery ’56

David T roast ’56

Matthew Ellis ’56

will reach him at Agency for International
Development, Room 6678, (Asia/'NE), Wash¬
ington, D.C. 20523. Until the middle of
January, Dr. Frank Colcord was in Amster¬
dam working on a research project for the
U.S. Dept, of Transportation concerning ur¬
ban planning in Europe. While there he
traveled to Stockholm and Goteberg, Ham¬
burg, Manchester, and Leeds. Rebecca Be-
lisle Bautc (Mrs.) has two daughters in col¬
lege: Susan, a sophomore at Wellesley and
Alison, a freshman at Dartmouth. (That’s
right.)

H. Seely Thomas, Jr., Sec.

38 Pennsylvania Ave.
Flcmington, N.J. 08822
Jane Hyde Christopher, Sec.
21 Old Colony Rd.

Wellesley Hills . Mass. 02181

Kenneth Provoneha, who teaches special
education at Northampton (Mass.) High
School, is a scout for the Red Sox in the
western Massachusetts area. Ann Graham
Baird (Mrs. Cameron) is a teacher of the
perceptually handicapped in the Hanover
(Mass.) Junior High School. She lives at
445 Tilden Rd., No. Scituate 02060. Seely
Thomas, publisher of the Hunterdon Demo¬
crat and The Delaware Valley News , has
served as president of the New Jersey Press
Association since November 1972. Before
becoming president he had been on the
Board of Directors and served as treasurer
and vice president of the Association. He
and his wife, Anne Moreau, have two chil¬
dren attending Middlebury: Catherine ’75
and John ’77. William Castor, of the Lake
Superior State College history and political
science department, has been awarded ten¬
ure by the College, effective September
1974.

Robert W. Gyzander, Sec.
104 Cammot Ln.
Fayetteville, N.Y. 13066
Ruth Shonyo Trask, Sec.

36 Yorktown Rd.

West Boylston, Mass. 01583

Charles Lauer is national advertising sales
director with the Petersen Publishing Co. of
Chicago, Ill. He lives at 551 Rosewood Ave.,
Winnetka 60093.

William P. Marseilles, III, Sec.
Killington, Vt. 05751
Carol Jennings Clemens, Sec.

2000 Richard Rd.

Willow Grove, Pa. i9090

Dr. Edward Perrin has been appointed di¬
rector of the National Center for Health
Statistics, Health Resources Administration.
He has been deputy director of the Center
since September 1972. Harding Williams is
manager of the Washington office of the
Del Monte Corp. He is living at 8613
Clydesdale Rd., Springfield, Va. 22151.
Peter and Cecily Mattocks ( 54) Marshall’s
son, Jonathan, a fifteen-year-old sophomore
at Noble Greenough School in Dedham,
Mass., was a member of the 15-man New
England Prep School Hockey League All-
Star team which toured five European coun¬
tries including Russia from March 2 to
April 8. The team played eight games on
the tour beginning in Berlin. Other coun¬
tries visited were Poland, Sweden, and
Czechoslovakia.

Charles D. Fay, Sec.

Ann Heath Fay, Sec.

341 E. Knowlton Rd.

Media, Pa. 19063

Mikko Eklin is a research officer with the
Ministry of Finance in Helsinki. His address
is Nvottapolku 6, 00330 Helsinki 33, Fin¬
land. Jane Ebert Pimlott (Mrs. Charles) is
director and head teacher at the Westlake
Co-op Nursery School in Westlake, Ohio.
She lives at 12000 Edgewater Dr., Apt. 508,
Lakewood 44107.

Dick J Wollmar, Sec.

Mary Lou King Wollmar, Sec.

Old Winter Rd.

South Lincoln, Mass. 01773

Robert Studley has been elected president
of the Lynn (Mass.) Institution for Savings.
He joined the bank in 1968 and has served
as an assistant treasurer, assistant vice presi¬
dent, and vice president. The Rev. Paul
Clayton resigned on February 1 as minister
of the Second Congregational Church of
Beverly, Mass, to become minister of the
Congregational Church in Needham. He and
his wife, Jacklyn, and their two children,
John, 9 and Cathryn, 7, are living at 26
Sargent St., Needham 02192. Paul has had
a book, Add Salt to Season: God's People in
a New Time, published by Greeno, Hadden
and Co.

The Rev. Ronald C. Lawson, Sec.

1300 Carson Blvd.

Dorvul, Quo. 1I9S 1S16, Canada
Sally Gerhart Mitchel, Sec.

47 Western Blvd.

Gillette, N.J. 07933

Richard Westfall is office manager with
Packard, Sawyer, Watters and Bell, insur¬
ance, in Greenfield, Mass. He lives at 18
Valley View Dr., Greenfield 01301. Gene
Bjorkman has been transferred by the In¬
surance Company of North America to
Houston, Tex. He is living at 8075 Raven-
wood Circle, Apt. 304, Houston 77055.
Philip Montgomery has been made manager
of the Portland branch of Putnam, Coffin
and Burr Division of Advest Co. Phil has
been account executive with Hayden Stone
and Co. and later associated with Dominick
and Dominick before joining Advest. David
Troast has been named vice president and
general manager of gas products for Airco's
Industrial Gases Division. He will be lo¬
cated at the division’s headquarters in Mur¬
ray Hill, N.J. and will be responsible for
all gas-products marketing activities. Dave

SPRING 1974

21

Charles Y. Brush *57

joined Arco in 1959 and has held line and
staff managerial posts in the intervening
years. Matthew Ellis, director of material
management at the Harrisburg (Pa.) Hos¬
pital. has been appointed to the Regional
Advisory’ Committee of the Hospital Bureau.
The Committee is comprised of experienced
administrative and purchasing personnel se¬
lected on a regional basis, and promotes
economical and efficient purchasing prac¬
tices by hospital and other health-care insti¬
tutions. For the past four years Nicholas
Holt has been acting in Chicago theaters.
His most recent role has been the lead in a
feature film. “The Selected,” a science fic¬
tion film, to be released at first-run movie
houses in Apni. He is also assistant priest
at St. Edmund’s Church, the largest black
Episcopal church in Chicago. The Rev.
Ronald Lawson has been appointed the
Archbishop’s representative on the Pastoral
Committee for the ’76 Olympics to be held
in Montreal. The Committee will organize
for the pastoral needs of the athletes.

Timothy P. Wallace, See.

Elizabeth O'Donnell Wallace, Sec.

201 Asbury St.

South Hamilton, Mass. 01982

Frederick Raskopf has been appointed vice
president of brand management of S. A.
Schonbrunn and Co. Before joining Schon-
bmnn Fred was senior product manager of
the Schick division of Warner-Lambert Co.,
product manager at Bristol-Meyers Co., ac¬
count executive at Compton Advertising,
and marketing specialist at IBM. Richard
Wiemer is vice president and trust officer
with Southeast First Bank of Jacksonville,
Fla. He lives at 7904 Bellemeade Blvd.,
Jacksonville 32211. Dr. Donald Small has
been promoted to associate professor of
mathematics at Colby College. In addition
to his teaching responsibilities Dr. Small has
developed a visiting lecture program by

mathematicians for secondary schools in
Maine. Charles Brush has been promoted
from assistant vice president to vice presi¬
dent-portfolio manager of the National Life
Insurance Co. of Vermont.

Frederic M Cowles, Sec.

Janet von Wettberg Cowles, Sec.
372 W. Mountain Rd.

West Simsbury, Conn. 06092

Joseph Mohbat, who was Associated Press
correspondent in Washington for ten years
before becoming press secretary to Demo¬
cratic National Chairman Lawrence O’Brien,
has been named a vice president of DIALOG,
the new public affairs division of J. Walter
Thompson Co. He will oversee media rela¬
tions in the nation’s capitol for DIALOG
clients which include private enterprises,
trade associations, educational institutions,
and government agencies. He lives at 201
I St.. Apt. 517, Washington 20024. Stepha¬
nie Eaton is taking a medical laboratory’
technician course in clinical affiliation with
the Littleton Hospital Laboratory. She lives
at 15 Union St., Littleton, N.H. 03561. Jane
Leavitt Bedell (Mrs.) is an elementary
teacher in the West Parish School, Glouces¬
ter, Mass, and lives at 65 Hilltop Rd.,
Gloucester 01930. Thomas Bry is president
of Diaton, Inc. in Denver, Colo, and living
at 4421 So. Lowell Blvd., Denver 80236.
Duncan Wilson is a research associate with
the AIA Research Corp. in Washington,
D.C His address is Route 2, Box 200, Acco-
keck, Md. 20607. David Western is an
account executive with Fahnestock and Co.
in Boston. Mail will reach him at West
Townshend, Vt. 05359. Floreal Lavin is
international area business manager for Cen¬
tral and So. America, Portugal, and Spain
with the Mosler Safe Co. in Hamilton, Ohio.

He and his wife, Ann Andruss, are living
at 439 Stonehearst Ln., Cincinnati 45231.
Roch Malzac is a co-pilot with American
Airlines and is living at 2209 Flat Creek
Dr., Richardson, Tex. 75080.

Edward D. Fowler, Sec.

143 Frontage Rd.

Manchester, N.H. 03103
Aliceanne Britain Griffin, Sec.

4 Sunset Ln.

South Hamilton, Mass. 01982

Paul Schosberg, administrative assistant to
Congressman Herman Badillo (Dem.-N.Y.),
has been named president of the Savings
Association League of New York State. The
League is a trade organization representing
158 savings and loan associations in the
state. Anthony Garcia has been made vice
president of Central Gulf Lines and is in
charge of the New York office. William
Kostcr is a bank loan officer with The Unity
Bank and Trust Co. in Roxbury, Mass.
George Finch is manager of quality con¬
trol, environmental power operation with
the General Electric Co. in Philadelphia.
He lives at 19 College View Rd., West
Chester 19380. Dr. Ren wick Curry' is spend¬
ing a year in Palo Alto doing research at
NASA. His address until August 1974 is
2039 Barbara Dr., Palo Alto 94303. Andrew
Montgomery became controller of The Del-
mark Co., manufacturers of nutritional and
pharmaceutical products, of Minneapolis on
Jan. 1. His address is 6628 Parkwood Rd.,
Edina 55416. Michael Karin was honored
at Middlebury’s 10th annual alumni-varsity
hockey classic in January; he was presented
the Student Athletic Council Alumni Award
for his “continued interest in Middlebury
and its athletic program.” The award was a
personalized Middlebury clock and because
Karin was unable to be present, was ac¬
cepted for him by “Duke” Nelson ’32. Mike,
who has participated in several of the
alumni-varsity classics in the past, still holds
an NCAA scoring record.

Kent D. Kehs, Sec.

Judith Jacobson Kchs, Sec.
Glen St.

Rowley, Mass. 01969

Dr. Robert Hall, who previously practiced
general dentistry in Hartford has joined
four other Hartford dentists to form a part¬
nership for dentistry practice with new
offices in the Exchange, Farmington Ave.,
Farmington, Conn. Allyn Moorman Sullivan
(Mrs. William) is administrative assistant
with Testing Engineers, Inc. in Oakland,
Calif, and lives at 926 St. Louis Ct., Con¬
cord 84518. Sonja Johnson White (Mrs.) is
a graduate student at the University of
Michigan and is living at 4808 Washtenaw,
Ann Arbor 48104. Joyce Varney Fuller
(Mrs. Nathan) is a staff nurse at Montclair
Community Nursing Service in Montclair,
N.J. and living at 39 Erwin Park Rd., Mont¬
clair 07042.

22

MIDDLEBURY

John L. Williams, Sec.

Box 171

Poultney, Vt. 05764
Janet S. Reed, Sec.

20 Amato Dr., Apt. B
South Windsor, Conn. 06074

Randall Clark has been advanced to di¬
rector of product development in the indi¬
vidual insurance operations at Connecticut
General Life Insurance Co. Peter Connal is
now New England district sales manager
for Calgon Product Co. Dr. William Max¬
well has opened an office for the practice
of otolaryngology in Portland, Me. He and
his wife, Sally Howard '62, are living at 15
Bluff Rd., South Portland 04106. Ann Cosby
Smith (Mrs. John) is an art teacher at Hills-
point Elementary School in Westport, Conn.
Her husband teaches at Southern Connecti¬
cut College. With their two children, Steele
11, and Samantha 7, they are living at 46
Beach Ave., Woodmont 06460. Alex Ell-
wood is a self-employed marriage, family
and child counselor and teaches part-time at
Umpqua Community College in Roseburg,
Ore. His address is 530 S. E. Leland, Rose¬
burg 97470. Dr. Michael Pulman is an as¬
sociate professor of history at the University
of Denver and lives at 2620 So. Fillmore
St., Denver 80210. Charlotte DuBois Elfe
(Mrs. Wolfgang) and her family which in¬
cludes a son and a daughter are back in
the United States living at 1115 Delta Dr.,
Columbia, S.C. 29209. Tor Hultgreen is
manager of marketing, pulp and paper, with
the Anglo Canadian Pulp and Paper Co. in
Toronto. His address is 2061 Lakeshore
Rd., E., Oakville, Ont.

Stephen R. Holtz, Sec.

17 Church St.

Framingham, Mass. 01701
Jacqueline Ross Hansen, Sec.
2028 Evergreen Dr.

Fort Collins, Colo. 80521

Jane Volland Schoultz and her husband,
Lars, have moved to 111 E. Withrow, Ox¬
ford, Ohio 45056 after a year in Buenos
Aires. Lars is teaching in the political sci¬
ence department at Miami University and
Jane is teaching sociology, part-time. Dr.
Alan Chaitin is a dermatologist with the
Southern California Permanente Medical
Group in Granada Hills. He lives at 4115
Aleman Dr., Tarzana 91356. Ralph Ellis
and wife, Janet Myers ’63, have moved to
104 Little Hill Ct., Ballwin, Mo. 63011.
Ralph is manager of Teleprocessing Indus¬
tries in Bridgeton. Richard Powell is mana¬
ger of the Great Scot Restaurant in Arcadia,
Calif, and lives at 134 E. Haven, Arcadia
91006. Francis Sutherland has been named
assistant general counsel of The Life In¬
surance Co. of Virginia. Stephen Green is
a regional director with UNICEF. His
address is UNICEF-Ethiopia, PO Box 20,
New York, N.Y. 10017. Major Martin
Brown and family, which includes two sons
and a daughter, are in Thailand for two

years. His address is PSC, Box 7343, APO
San Francisco 96237.

Leon M. Cangiano, Jr., Sec.

41 Commercial Wharf
Boston, Mass. 02110
Sibylle Vock Brandup, Sec.

30 Yeoman Dr.

Upper Saddle River, N.J. 07458

Larry Silvester has been appointed assistant
secretary in the mortgage and real estate
department at Connecticut General Life In¬
surance Co. He joined Connecticut General
in 1967 and has served as accounts admin¬
istrator in group insurance and mortgage

Larry Silvester ’63

analyst. With his wife and two daughters
he lives at 248 Mountain Rd., North Granby,
Conn. 06060. David Spink is an attendant
at the Buffalo General Hospital, 125 W.
North St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14201. Thomas
Keating is studying on a Washington In¬
ternship in Education (Ford Foundation
Fellowship in Educational Leadership) and
is on the staff of the Speaker of the House
of the Illinois General Assembly. His
address is 721 Woodland Ave., Springfield,
Ill. 62704. Dr. Douglas Crandall is assistant
professor of botany, biochemistry, and en¬
vironmental biology at Emmanuel College,
400 The Fenway, Boston 02115 Russell
Barnum is guidance director in the West
Rutland (Vt.) High School. His address is
Box 278, West Rutland 05777. Chris Baker
and his wife, Jane MacFarland ’62, are liv¬
ing at 9222 Shelton St., Bethesda, Md.
20034. Chris received his PhD in political
science from the University of Florida in
August, 1973.

Peter K. Wood, Sec.

1133 Avenue Rd.

Toronto, Ont., Canada
Joan Smith Johnson, Sec.

North Street Ext.

Rutland, Vt. 05701

Daniel Brown has been appointed plant

manager of The Kendall Company’s foreign
subsidiary in Braunton, North Devon, Eng¬
land. He will assume total responsibility
for the operation of the British facility' which
produces non-woven and processed cotton
products for the European market. His
address is 2 Williams Close, Braunton, No.
Devon, England. Ann Hatfield is in mate¬
rials management at the Medical College
of Virginia Hospital, Richmond and lives
at 1816 Floyd Ave., Richmond 23220. Cal¬
vin Leman is owner of the Appliance Servi-
center of Vernon. His address is 184 Tal-
cottville Rd., Vernon, Conn. 06066. Lee
Geisen is a graduate student in the Institute
of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adel-
phi University. She lives at 50 Webb Ave.,
Apt. I-A, Hempstead, N.Y. 11550. Harvey
Evans is a staff therapist with the Seacoast
Regional Counseling Center. The address
for him and wife, Pauline Frizzell, is Box
724, Portsmouth, N.II. 03801.

Bruce E. Gunther, Sec.

4 Skytop Dr.

Croton, N.Y. 10520
Carol Burr Francone, Sec.

1230 Bidwcll Ave.

Chico, Calif. 95926

James Hunt is now chairman of the English
department at Hanover (N.H.) High School.
Hugo de Fritsch is assistant vice president
and deputy manager at the Philadelphia
International Bank at 55 Broad St., New
York 10004. Frederic Berner is an attorney
with Sidley and Austin in Washington, D.C.
He lives at 5325 Willard Ave., Chevy Chase
20015. Graydon Ekdahl is professor of Ger¬
manic languages at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill 27514. James Dor-
ranee is a fashion photographer in France.
His address is 66 Rue St., Andre des Arts,
Paris 6. Peter Holcombe has been promoted
to trust officer with the New England Mer¬
chants Bank of Boston. Jeanie Distin Mc¬
Adams (Mrs. Joseph) is a glider tow pilot
at Great Western Soaring School in Pear-
blossom, Calif. Her address is General De¬
livery, Wrightwood 92397. Martin Lavin
began work on March 1 as corporate coun¬
sel with Mico, Ine. of Winooski, Vt. He lives
at 1 Hillside Terr., Shelburne 05482. Ernest
Dick is assistant purchasing agent with
Hoover Brothers in Kansas City, Mo. He
lives at 5715 Lloyd Ave., Overland Park,
Kan. 66202. William Ewald is a research
biologist with the Defense Nuclear Agency
in Bethesda, Md. He and wife, Keith Mc-
Causland ’68, are living at 4552 Windsor
Ln., Bethesda 20014. Grant Matheke is a
student in the PhD program in marine
biology at the University of Maine. His
address is RFD 1, Orrington 04474. Sarah
Scull Hunter, husband Michael, and their
son were in Cape Town, So. Africa until
the end of January when they went on to
St. Helena. Mail sent to 23 Douglas Rd.,
Needham, Mass. 02192 will be forwarded.
David Thompson and wife, Catherine Cen-

SPRING 1974

23

tcno ’68, arc in Brazil for a year where
David is working for Esso. Their address is
Esso Brasileira de Petrolio, S.A., Caixa
Postal 970-ZC-OQ, Rio de Janeiro

Kenneth F Macauley, Sec.
Winding Hollow Rd.
Amherst, N.H. 03031
Dianne Watson Carter, Sec.
Ayer Rd.

Harvard, Mass. 01451

Eric Tunis is in Afghanistan His address
is American Embassy, Kabul, Afghanistan,
Dept, of State, Washington, D.C. 20521.
Alan Magary and wife Kcrstin, after a year
and a half of traveling and writing, have
completed their book Safari: A Travel Guide
to Eastern Africa, to be published this fall
by Harper and Row. They are now at work
on a third book, on California, also for
Harper. Their address is 46 Alvarado St.,
San Francisco 94110. Thomas Armistead is
communications coordinator for the office of
the treasurer of National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha’is of the United States in Wil¬
mette, Ill. Kristina Nilson Allen, husband
Peter, and children Rick, 2, and Kate, 5,
moved to 145 Upton Rd., Westborough,
Mass. 01581 in October. Peter is working
for the Dennison Manufacturing Co. Scott
MacFadyen is outboard operations manager
with Airborne Air Freight Corp. in Revere,
Mass. He lives at 4 Lonvale Ln., Apt. 76,
Amcsbury 01913. Richard Webbe has been
named assistant investment officer in the
bond department of John Hancock Insur¬
ance. Roger Herrmann is general manager
in international business with Time , Inc. He
lives at 132 E. 35th St., Apt. 7-J, New
York, N.Y. 10016. Francinc Clark Page
(Mrs. Richard), received an MA in English
from the University of Vermont in May,
1973. She is living at 82-B Brigham Hill
Ln., Essex Junction, Vt. 05452. Elizabeth
Brennan Danlcy (Mrs. William) is children’s
librarian at the Fayetteville (Ark.) Public
Library and is living at 750 William St.,
Fayetteville 72701. Virginia Neely Jackson
(Mrs. James) is studying for a Master’s in
political science at the University of Arkan¬
sas and living at 613 Oakland, Apt. 4, Fay¬
etteville 72701. Samuel Bays is assistant
treasurer in commercial banking with the
American Express International Banking
Corp. in Tokyo. His address is Toranomon-
Mitsui Bldg., 8-1, Kasumigaseki, 3-chome,
Tokyo. Virginia Bachus Willcox and hus¬
band Riley have moved to 5255 London
Dr., N. W., Atlanta, Ga. 30327 where he is
area manager of the Measurex Corp. Charles
Maugham is a surgical and otolaryngology
resident at the Swedish Hospital in Seattle
this year and will be at the University of
Washington Hospital next year. His address
is 4111 36th, N. E, Seattle 98112. John
Ragsdale is a professor of law at the Uni¬
versity of Missouri Law School. He and
wife Jill Bullington ’69 are living at 3730
Locust, Apt. 21, Kansas City, Mo. 64109.

Leslie Anderson is studying sitar and vocal
music at the Ali Akbar College of Music
where she also holds the position of aca¬
demic degree and credit programs advisor.
Her address is 162 Hillside, San Rafael,
Calif. 94901. Carolyn Estabrook Frye (Mrs.
Milton) was awarded a Master’s in educa¬
tion by Claremont (Calif.) College in Feb¬
ruary.

Richard E. Roller, Sec.

Joan Viehdorfer Roller, See.

Lillard Hall, Tabor Academy
Marion, Mass. 02738

Jane Johnston is an instructor of English
at the University of Massachusetts in Bos¬
ton and lives at 15 Hews St., Cambridge
02139 Katherine Horton is living at 8800
No. Lincoln St., Apt. 102-G, Denver 80229.
Last summer she drove around the United
States and arrived in Denver in August
where she proceeded to run a shop for an
architect for four months. She is now a
cabinet maker and woodworker in her own
shop which she opened in January.

Richard W. Vomacka, Sec.
1414*6 Summit St.

Sioux City, la. 51103
Susan Hastings Chandler, Sec.
102 Adams St.

Milton, Mass. 02187

Larry Abbott was admitted to the Vermont
Bar in December. He earned his law degree
at the University of Chicago and is a law
clerk in the Vermont State Supreme Court.
Jam's Ells is a social worker with the Jeffer¬
son County Welfare Dept, in Denver. Her
address is Box 773, Evergreen 80439. Con¬
rad Ambrette is working for the law firm
of McAnemey, Ryan and Millar in Darien,
Conn, and living at 89 Canoe Hill Rd., New
Canaan 06840. Christopher Diamond is an
assistant to the president of the Sherburne
Corp. (Killington Ski Area). His address is
PO Box 157, Killington, Vt. 05751. Arthur
Coolidge has resigned from the South
Australian Education Dept, after a year of
junior-high teaching and is now teaching
physics and mathematics at a boy’s private
secondary school, Wesley College, in the
Melbourne area. He has bought a new home
at 4 Francis St., Blackburn, Victoria 3130,
Australia. John Kirby is a sales representa¬
tive with the Xerox Corp. in Arlington, Va.
and is living at 101 So. Reynolds, Apt. 502,
Alexandria 22304. Cynthia Krieble Bennett
(Mrs. John) is an assistant professor of Fine
Arts at Central Washington State University
and living at 207 So. Ruby St., Ellensburg,
Wash. 98926. Michelle MacKellar Du
Vivier (Mrs. Paul) is a conference inter¬
preter at the United Nations in New York
and her husband is director of a museum in
Princeton, N.J. Their address is Box 335,
Crosswicks, N.J. 08515. Russell Fellows and
wife Sarah Crum are living on a farm in
Jeffersonville, Vt. 05464. Sally Brown Wiley
(Mrs. Stephen) is studying for a Master’s in

education at Columbia Teachers’ College.
Her New York address is 509 W. 121st St.,
Apt 311, N.Y. 10027. Mildred Spillane
Pease (Mrs. James) and her family, which
now includes Melissa, bom Dec. 20, 1972
and Aimee, born Jan. 9, 1974, are living at
16263 Midwood Dr., Granada Hills, Calif.
91344. Her husband was transferred to
California in September by Connecticut
General Life Insurance Co. Linda Johnson
is an executive secretary with Northeast
Petroleum Industries in Chelsea, Mass. She
lives at 300 Park Terrace Dr., Melrose
02176. Louis McGraw is production mana¬
ger with Davis and Geek in Puerto Rico.
His address is PO Box 842, Dorado, P.R.
Blaine Doherty is a managerial trainee with
Toronto Dominion in London, Ontario. His
address is 757 Ladybrook Crescent, London,
Canada. Jeffrey Herre is working in intelli¬
gence for the U.S. Government in Wash¬
ington Magna Leffler Dodge (Mrs. David),
a first-year student in Harvard’s two-year
MBA program, has been awarded the Paul
W. Kesten Memorial Fellowship. The fel¬
lowship is given to outstanding students
entering the first year at the School who are
preparing for careers in communications or
marketing.

John L McMahan, Jr., Sec.

Box 317

New Lebanon, N.Y. 12125
Mary MacArthur Wendell, Sec.

417 Hillside St.

Milton, Mass. 02186

Jett Smith has received a Master’s in inter¬
national management from Thunderbird
Graduate School of International Manage¬
ment. He is now a credit analyst in the
International Dept, of Fidelity Bank in
Philadelphia. His address is 27 E. Baltimore
Pike, Media 19036. Cathy Gilliam Temey
(Mrs. Leroy) is an English teacher at Hepp-
ner Junior High School in Heppner, N.Y.
Her address is Box 611, Heppner 97836.
This January' the Kipp Insurance Agency
of Orleans, Vt., became licensed to broker
real estate transactions with Steven Kipp
designated the resident principal broker.
Bradley Addison is an attorney with Loeb
and Loeb in Los Angeles and is living at
19115 Gayle Pi., Los Angeles 91356. An¬
drew Rothschild is a carpenter with the
Lancaster Construction Co. His address is
Route 1, Box 163, Grantsville, W. Va. 26147.
Theodore Gage is a graduate student in
anthropology at the University of Washing¬
ton. He lives at 4737^ Twelfth Ave., N.E.,
Seattle 98105. Dr. Walter Beagley has been
promoted to assistant professor of psychol¬
ogy at Emory University. The address for
him and his wife, Gwyneth Hill, is 1175
Kingsley Circle, Atlanta, Ga. 30324. Jean
Baldwin joined the law firm of Joseph Pal-
misan of Barre, Vt. in January. She has been
with State’s Attorney Robert Gagnon’s office
since May, 1972 and was named Washing¬
ton County assistant state’s attorney in No-

24

MIDDLEBURY

vember, 1972. Wendy Cole is working for
Delta Air Lines at Logan Field in Boston
and is living at 60 Pleasant St., Marblehead
01945. Sandra Sapp Dooley (Mrs. John) is
on educational leave until next September
as a social worker for the Vermont Depart¬
ment of Social and Rehabilitation Services
and is a full-time student in the Master’s
program in counseling at the University of
Vermont. She expects to complete her de¬
gree requirements by the end of the sum¬
mer. Her address is Manor Woods, Apt. 8,
Kennedy Dr., South Burlington 05401.
While David Nelson is serving his com¬
mitment in the Army at Ft. Campbell, Ky.,
wife Juliane Wallace Nelson is a full-time
student in the Graduate School of Manage¬
ment at Vanderbilt University. Their address
is 1326-B Werner Park, Fort Campbell
42223. Susan Bieniek Sheehan (Mrs. Rich¬
ard) has been taking courses at State Uni¬
versity of New York at Geneseo to obtain
teacher certification. Her address is 29 Fort
Hill Ave., Canandaigua, N.Y. 14424. Ann
Barker Olson (Mrs. Alan) is a full-time stu¬
dent at the University of Texas in El Paso
and expects to complete requirements for
her Bachelor’s in economics this summer.
Husband Alan, stationed at Fort Bliss, is
studying for a Master’s in engineering at
the University. Their address is 203 Sheri¬
dan Rd., Fort Bliss 79916. Monique Da-
voust Whall (Mrs. Clifford) is curator at the
Four Winds Art Gallery in Ferrisburg, Vt.
where she arranges exhibits of paintings,
prints, jewelry, furniture, carpets, and sculp¬
ture; guides visitors through the gallery;
prepares biographies of artists; sells artists’
works, and keeps an inventoiy for the gal¬
lery. She and Clifford live at 1111 -B Ethan
Allen Ave., Winooski, Vt. 05404.

m Alexander T. Daignault, Jr., Sec.

^7 | J Painters Ln., Box 292

/ Cockeysville, Md. 21030

Beth L. Prasse, Sec.

173 Newbury St.

Boston, Mass. 02116

Jamyn Moore Sheff (Mrs. Paul) is a part-
time teacher and secretary to the faculty
at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N.H.
03770. Christopher Fox will be working
with the law firm of Lynch, Ketcham and
Foley in Middlebury following his gradua¬
tion from law school. Christopher Morris is
a force and training manager with the New
England Telephone Co. in Burlington, Vt.
The address for him and his wife, Linda
Manning ’72, is 15 Tanglewood Dr., RD 2,
Winooski 05404. Jane French Carpenter
(Mrs. David) will be assistant professor of
Spanish at Bates College in the fall. She is
finishing work on her PhD thesis for Cor¬
nell. Robert Apple is a planner with the
Central Vermont Regional Planning Com¬
mission. The address for him and wife Sally
Redpath '70 is Cameron Rd., RFD 1, Plain-
field Vt. 05667. Harry Zinn is working as a
carpenter with A. B. Herrick of Blue Hill,

Me. His address is Box 231, Blue Hill 04614.
Gerry Rowland is a Pfc. in the Army. His
address is C Btry , 1/22 FA, APO New York
09070. Susan Hunley Noonan (Mrs. Tommy)
is a free-lance graphic artist with ABC
Evening News in Washington, D.C. Her
address is Route 2, Box 172, Purcellville,
Va. 22132. Sanford Nooney has his own
business, “Signs and Designs by Sandy
Nooney,” in Dover, N.H. He lives at 9 Fern
St., Dover 03820. Barbara Ottinger is a
part-time photography teacher at California
Institute of the Arts and co-manager of
Jones Grainmill in Los Angeles. She lives
at 1815 No. Bronson Ave., Hollywood 90028.
Nancy Roberts is a student at Pace Univer¬
sity Graduate School of Nursing and lives
at 242 Bedford Rd., Pleasantville, N.Y.
10570. Claude Roessiger is managing di¬
rector of Ocor Products Corp. in Mirror
Lake, N.H. 03853. Wilfred Shepardson is
with the Red Cross and is manager of
Tanohi-Jing Tibeta Camp. His address is
c/o Hotel Annapurna, Pokhana, Nepal.
Cary and Suzanne Ferraris Valby arc living
at 304 Suburban Ct., Rochester, N.Y. 14620.
Gary is a lawyer with Ninon, Hargrave,
Devans and Doyle. Lt. Paul Bohlen is at¬
tending rotary-wing flight-training class at
Ft. Rucker, Ala. until November. His address
is USAAS ORWAC Class 74-34, Ft. Rucker
36360. Robert Van Wert is an apprentice
horse trainer at the Rokeby Stables in El-
mont, NY.. His address is Belmont Park,
Box 356, Elmont 11003. John Krasnow is
employed as a creative writer by CBS.
Paul Grover is audio-visual coordinator in
the University of Illinois College of Vet¬
erinary Medicine. He is living at 1708 Valley
Rd., Urbana 61801.

Dennis F. Shanahan, Sec.

Maureen O'Bryan Shanahan, Sec.

2969 Lawton PI.

St. Louis, Mo. 83103

Patti McConville has joined the Interna¬
tional Photographic Division at Kodak in
Rochester, N.Y., working in international
advertising. She is living at 303 W. Squire
Dr., Apt. 3, Rochester 14623. Stephen
Sawyer and wife Patricia Young ’70 are liv¬
ing at 29 May St., Worcester, Mass. 01610.
Stephen is a graduate student in geography
at Clark University. Judith Irving is an en¬
vironmental educator with the Vermont
Institute of Natural Science in Woodstock,
Vt. Her address is Box 105, So. Strafford,
Vt. 05070. Jon Groetzinger has accepted a
position with the Manchester (N.H.) law
firm of McLane, Graf, Greene and Brown,
after his graduation from Cornell Law
School this spring. Glenn Geiger is a student
at Suffolk Law School in Boston and lives
at 40 Ocean Ave., Apt. 2, Winthrop, Mass.
02152. John Battle is a student at Columbia
Graduate School of Architecture and Plan¬
ning and living at 211 W. 106th St., Apt.
ll-A, New York 10025. Peter Nestlcr is an
estate and pension analyst with the De¬

ferred Benefits Corp. in E. Orange, N.J. and
living at 56 Whittredge Rd., Summit 07901.
Robert Bianchetti is a mortgage analyst
with New England Mutual Life Insurance
Co. in Boston and living at 1256 Beacon
S| . VVaban 021( 18. Russell Platt is a student
in the Center for Chinese Studies at the
University of Michigan. He lives at 1815
Villag< Green Ln., Ann Arbor 18105. W il¬
liam Post is assistant to the president of
CB Sports, Inc. in Bennington, Vt. The
address for him and wife Paula Morgan is
General Delivery, Manchester Center 05254.
Churchill Franklin is in the training pro¬
gram of Tlie First National Bank of Boston,
lie and wife Janet Halstead ’72 are living at
124 Fayette St., Watertown, Mass. 02172.
Pamela Philipp took courses at Southern
Illinois University and worked part-time
until March 30 when she went to Kabwe,
Zambia to teach at the Dominican Convent,
PO Box 40, Kabwe, Zambia, Central Africa.

William II. Everett, Sec.
7-A Court St.
Middlebury, Vt. 05753
Cynthia Bear, Sec.

255 E. 61st St., Apt. 3-B
New York, N.Y. 10021

Ensign Steven Thomas is navigator aboard
the USS Finer with home port in Charles¬
ton, S.C. The Finer expected to deploy to
the Mediterranean from January through
August and because of his language train¬
ing at Middlebury, Steve has been appointed
group liaison officer for NATO exercises. His
address is USS Furer DEG 6, FPO New
York 09501. Mark and Sally Davidson
Foster arc living at 79 Western Ave., No.,
St. Paul 55102. Mark has begun his first
year at William Mitchell College of Law
and Sally is an admissions counselor for
Hamline University. Janet Boothby is work¬
ing for a Master’s in animal science at the
University of New Hampshire. She is living
at 314 Kendell Hall, UNH, Durham 03824.
John Carter is a student at Stanford Uni¬
versity School of Education. Anne Marvin
has finished classes for a Master’s in his¬
tory museum studies and American folk
culture at Cooperstown Graduate Programs
in Cooperstown, N.Y. During February
and March she was a consultant with the
curatorial department of the State Board
of History near Albany, N.Y. In the middle
of April she joined the research staff of
Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement, a “living
history” museum in Noblesville, Ind. Emily
Palmer is a Slavic cataloguer with Xerox
University Microfilms in Ann Arbor, Mich,
and lives at 820 Fuller Rd., Apt. 206, Ann
Arbor 48104. Ruth Dunncll is a graduate
student in East Asian studies at the Uni¬
versity of Washington and lives at 4548-20th
Ave., N.E., Seattle 98109. Hope Vail is
a graduate student at the School of Allied
Medical Professions in Philadelphia. Her
address is 45 Hobart Ave., Short Hills, N.J.
07078. 2nd Lt. Christine Sienicki is in the

SPRING 1974

25

Air Force, stationed in Thailand. Her ad¬
dress is Box 1382, APO San Francisco
96310. Lucy McCarthy is an MA candidate,
specializing in guidance and counseling at
Catholic University of America School of
Education. She is counseling two evenings
a week in a dormitory at The Washington
School of the Ballet. Last year she was
assistant registrar at International School
of Law in Washington. She lives at 3720
Macomb, N.W., Apt. 205, Washington
20016.

Henry Liles is an interpreter with Colum¬
bia Artist Management in New York. He
lives at 310 W. 18th St., New York 10011.
Peter Hope is a VISTA volunteer in Bethel,
Vt. His address is Camp Brook Rd., Bethel
05032. Mauro Casci is a student at New
York University Law School and living at
227 President St., Brooklyn 11231. Martha
Armstrong Stamp (Mrs. Patrick) is an in¬
school tutor at Morrison Memorial School
in East Corinth, Me. Her address is Head
Resident, Stoddar Hall, University of Maine,
(l] 0447 • lull.i Page Paton Mrs Wil¬
liam) is a student at the University of
Missouri in St. Louis. She lives at 8833
Burton Ave., Overland 63114. Alice True is
a research correspondent with the National
Geographic Society in Washington, and is
living at 3502 Patterson St., N.W., Wash¬
ington 20015. Paul Lehman is a first-year
student in community organization and so¬
cial planning at the University of Chicago.
He is living at 1605 E. 50th St., Apt. 5-E,
Chicago 60615. Jane Baird is a special
school’s counselor at the Minnesota Braille
and Sight-Saving School. She lives at 15
N.E. Sixth Ave., Faribault 55021. Mark
Zuroff is a credit analyst with the U.S.
Trust Corp. in Boston and lives at 107

Brayton Rd., Brighton 02135. Susan Clark
Miller (Mrs. Charles) is an assistant recorder
at Indiana University Graduate School. She
is living at 426 E. 15th St., Apt. 24, Bloom¬
ington 47401. Sheila Swain Acey (Mrs. Ray¬
mond) is office manager with Infodex in
w aterbury. (Jonn. and living at 171 Pleasant
St., New Britain 06051. Mark Ellenberger,
as a conscientious objector since September,
1972, has been doing civilian alternate draft
service at the Child Care Center in Evanston,
Ill. Sarah Sweetser is an assistant in restora¬
tion to the architect of the National Park
Service in Philadelphia and is living at 616
Spruce St., Apt. 1, Philadelphia 19106.
Charlene Fulton is a U.S. customs official
at the Montreal airport. Her address: 150
Dorval Ave., Apt. 1409, Dorval, Que.

R. Lance Collistcr, Sec.

24 Trenton Sq.

Euclid, O. 14143
Kathryn Frazier
213 Cronkhite Graduate Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass. 02138

Susan Crandell is an editorial assistant for
Flying magazine, a division of Ziff-Davis
in New York City. She lives at 140 Stuyve-
sant Ave., Kearney, N.J. 07032. Sally Ander¬
son is a Watson Fellow and is spending her
time in Lapland studying Lappish. Gail
Glendinning is a graduate student in physics
at Duke University Graduate School of
Arts and Science. Her address is Box 1132,
Graduate Center, Duke University, Dur¬
ham, N.C. 27706. Dag Bemtsen is a student
at Oslo Larerskole (Teacher’s College). He
and his wife, Marie Loken (former ski in¬
structor at Middlebury) are planning on
buying a farm in Norway in the spring.
Their address is Novelsgate 17, Oslo 2.

Peter Goodwin is ski coach and a teacher
of physics at the Kent School, Kent, Conn.
06757. John Coleman is a group adminis¬
trative representative with Connecticut Gen¬
eral Life Insurance Co. in Boston. He lives
at 26 Chestnut St., Wakefield 01880.
Johanna Smith is assistant tribunal admin¬
istrator with the American Arbitration As¬
sociation in Boston. She lives at 220 St.
Paul St., Apt. 21, Brookline 02146. Chris
Duncan began work in January at Packer
Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn as an as¬
sistant in science and mathematics for
grades 5 and 6. He is living at 179 Steuben
St., Brooklyn 11205. Christopher Schultz is
a student at Boston University Law School
and living at 70 Montcalm Ave., Brighton
02135. Page Dabney is a lift operator with
Vail Associates. His address is General De¬
livery, Vail, Colo. 81657. Bill Brunger and
wife Melinda Held are both teaching Eng¬
lish at the National College of Choueifat
in Beinit, Labanon. Their address is Box
5520, Beirut. Richard Hayes is operations
analyst with the First National Bank of
Miami. His address is Gallowood Apts.,
Apt. 215-E, 8475 SAV. 94th St., Miami
33156. Duane Kline is a staff reporter with
the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. He lives
at 2812 Pine Dr., Cheyenne 82001. Betsy
Beyer Hill (Mrs. Malcolm) is a second-year
graduate student in the doctoral program in
geology at the University of California at
Santa Cruz. Her husband, an MIT graduate,
is also doing graduate work in geology,
there. Pamela Taft is teaching in Hamburg,
Germany. Her address is 2 Hamburg 63,
Klein Horst 1-B. Wesley Rivel is a real es¬
tate agent with Tony Scrivener Real Estate
in Washington, D.C. and is living at 1920
“S” St., N.W., Apt. 706, Washington 20009.

MASTERS

OQ Frank W. Putnam, former member of
the Williston Academy faculty, died
July 8, 1973 in Easthampton. In his forty-
three years at Williston he taught physics
and later German and was head of the
Modern Language Department. In 1973 the
Frank W. Putnam Award was established
to be awarded each year to a student for
outstanding accomplishment in track. He is
survived by his wife.

OQ Catherine E. Dodge, 72, died Dec.

9 in Concord, N.H. From 1925 to
1952 she taught English at Needham (Mass.)
High School and was made head of the
English department in 1935. In 1952 she
became head of the English department at
St. Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, Tex. and in
1957, registrar and dean of students, there.
She retired in 1968.

a book of poetry. Some Outstanding Busi¬
ness, published by Dorrance and Co. He
has also completed a novel for children en¬
titled Philip's Extraordinary Adventures on
the Planet Thear.

William Altmann has joined the ad-
U-L missions staff of Manchester (Conn.)
Community College as a vocational coun¬
selor and placement officer.

University of Cincinnati in August, 1973.
He is now assistant professor in German
at Texas A & M University.

OH Allen Hye and wife Roberta Tracy
^ • Hye are living with Courtney Anne,
3, and Carsten Allen, 1, at 510 Ellen St.,
Helleriown, Pa. 18055. Allen is assistant
professor of German at Lehigh University
and Roberta is writing her PhD thesis.

/?0 Jennie Celona, a member of the
UC) foreign language department at
Worcester (Mass.) State College, left for
Cairo in February to spend a month as a
consultant in French at Cairo American
College. She was to analyze their present
programs in French and in the teaching of
English as a foreign language, as well as
providing demonstrations of contemporary
approaches to teaching a foreign language.

u r. uomimc JJiorio and Mary Ann
Genova Diorio are the parents of
Lia Cristina, bom Oct. 30, 1973.

Hf) Susan Reeves Fiksdal (Mrs.) is teach-
• V ing French and other subjects at
Evergreen State College, a new experi¬
mental college in Olympia, Wash. The cur¬
riculum changes each year and is planned
by the entire faculty. Susan’s address is
Route 8, Box 344-E, Olympia 88502.

TO Charles
VO Weston

Hatch, English teacher at
(Mass.) High School, has had

64

Verne Rudebusch completed work fo
a PhD in German literature at th

72

James W. Newell and Sarah M.
Bowen were married in October.

26

M1DDLEBURY

Over 150 years ago the College first offered German—and heard Commencement orations in French-
today it is preeminent in graduate-level, summer language study. After long involvement
in language study, Middlebury founded its Summer Language Schools in 1915.

From the author’s forthcoming history, here is the story of

The First 11 ^ Y ears

By Stephen A. Freeman, Director-emeritus of the Language Schools

When Professor Lilian L. Stroebe of Vassar opened
the Middlebury College German Summer School on
June 29, 1915 in Pearsons Hall, it was the first ad¬
vanced, specialized and isolated summer school of a
modern language in any college in the country. It
marked the beginning of Middlebury's international
reputation in the teaching of modern languages and
of its specific contribution to the education of language
teachers.

Fraulein Stroebe has the distinction of synthesizing
many different ideas, theories, and experiments that
were current at the time. It was an idea whose time
had come. It started a chain reaction. The Middlebury
French Summer School was begun the next summer,
the Spanish School in 1917, and the Bread Loaf School
of English in 1920.

Middlebury College can pride itself on showing
an interest in modern languages early in its history,
and at about the same time as other older colleges of
the day. In the Colonial period, the study of the Euro¬
pean languages occurred chiefly in the French Catholic
missions to the Indians; among groups of non-English
settlers (Germans in Pennsylvania and Spanish in
Florida) ; and among wealthy English-speaking colo¬
nists where French was taught as a polite accomplish¬
ment by private tutors and governesses.

Franklin aided in introducing French and German
into the University of Pennsylvania about 1754.

Dr Freeman, who became Dean of the French
School at Middlebury in 1925 and directed the
Summer Language Schools from 1946 to 1970, is
completing a history of the Middlebury Language
Schools, 1915-1970, which will be published in
1975 in connection with the celebration of the
College's 175th anniversary. As background, his
opening chapter traces the history of modern-
language study in the 19th century at Middle¬
bury, and summarizes the competing philosophies
of language instruction in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. We present here some
portions of this chapter leading up to the
circumstances in which the first Middlebury
Language School was founded in 1915.

Thomas Jefferson helped to establish the first profes¬
sorship of modern languages in this country in 1779
at the College of William and Mary. French was taught
in Harvard College in 1735, but only intermittently
until 1817 when George Ticknor was appointed to the
Smith Professorship of French and Spanish. At Har¬
vard in 1825, Carl Follen was assigned to teach Ger¬
man along with church history and ethics. Princeton—
then the College of New Jersey—added French in 1772;
Columbia introduced it in 1784, Williams in 1795, Yale
not until 1825. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was
made professor of modern languages at Bowdoin in
1825. He followed Ticknor at Harvard from 1836 to
1854, and was himself succeeded by James Russell
Lowell in 1854. The new branch of learning was not at
once recognized as a regular part of the curriculum,
and often it was not credited toward a degree.

The first professorship of languages was established
at Middlebury College in 1810, with Rev. Oliver Hul-
burd as “Professor of the Learned Languages." But
this meant Greek and Latin; there is no mention of
the modern languages. Greek, Latin, and Hebrew were
really professional or vocational subjects, not pri¬
marily part of the liberal arts curriculum, at that time;
they were required of students “lest we leave an illiter¬
ate ministry to the churches." Still, when Frederick
Hall, Professor of Natural Philosophy, returned to
Middlebury in 1809, laden with trunks of books and
scientific apparatus, after two exciting years spent
mostly in Paris, he began at once to exert a powerful
cosmopolitan influence upon the college and its cur¬
riculum. Then Robert Bridges Patton (AB, Yale 1817,
AB, Middlebury 1818, AM, Middlebury 1820) was ap¬
pointed Tutor of Languages in 1817, then Professor
of Languages, 1818-25. He proceeded to acquire the
PhD degree from the University of Gottingen in 1821.

Middlebury offers its first modern language

The results of Hall's and Patton's influence were

SPRING 1974

27

Prof. John Hough DD *45

soon felt. In the 1821 Catalog, under “Senior Studies
through the year,” the following phrase appears:

. . The Hebrew and German Languages, to such
members of the class as wish to obtain a knowledge of
them.” On the same page are indicated—“Lectures on
Philology for the Junior and Senior Classes.” In 1822,
the Catalog, again under “Senior Studies through the
year,” indicates more precisely: “On Saturdays, the
German Language.” It is noteworthy that Patton in¬
troduced German at Middlebury three years before
Follen introduced it at Harvard.

Also in 1822, Jean Baptiste Meilleur of Montreal
inserted in the National Standard, Middlebury’s weekly
newspaper, the following notice: “French School. The
subscriber, having come to the United States for the
purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the English Lan¬
guage, and having accomplished that object, proposes
to open a School in Middlebury to instruct those Ladies
and Gentlemen who may wish, in his vernacular lan¬
guage. The elementary principles of the French Lan¬
guage, the Etymology of words, and Accentuation will
be taught viva voce by way of lectures . . Directly
below it, the Middlebury Female Academy of Mrs.
Parsons announced that “The Winter Quarter has
commenced. . . . She has made arrangements with Mr.
Lange to give lessons in French to her scholars, either
one or two in a day as desired.”

Six weeks later in early 1823, the same paper pub¬
lished this advertisement: “Medical School. The An¬
nual Summer Term of Dr. J. A. Allen’s Medical School
will commence the first Tuesday of April next . . .

[there follows a list of medical courses offered] . . . also
a course consisting of at least two Lectures a week
on the French Language, on a new and improved plan
by Monsieur Jean Baptiste Meilleur. Those who attend
Mr. Meilleur’s instruction can by proper attention ac¬
quire a sufficient knowledge to read and translate the
French Language with dispatch, which is of much
importance to Medical Gentlemen. Terms 6 dollars.
Instruction likewise during the term to any who desire
it, in the German Language, by Professor R. B.
Patton.”

M. Meilleur recognized the need for suitable texts.
In March, 1823 appeared this Literary Notice: “Ready
for the press and will be immediately published at this
0 f^ ce —‘A Compendium of the Principles of the French
Language, containing all that is necessary and nothing
superfluous, compiled from the best French Classical
Writers, by Monsieur J. B. Meilleur.’ ” Unfortunately,
no trace of this book has been found.*

Other schools in the village also offered instruction
in French at this time. A school advertised by William
Deere in March 1823, to be held “in the new Brick
School House in the western district” (the Addison
County Grammar School) announced that “the French
Language will be taught by Monsieur J. B. Meilleur,
whose Method and capacity in teaching his native lan¬
guage has gained him the approbation of the con¬
noisseurs therein.” And in May of that year, Mrs.
Parsons announced that the Summer Quarter of her
Boarding School would commence, and among other sub¬
jects offered were “Latin and French including Paint¬
ing; terms of tuition $6.” None of these schools was
connected with the College, but it is certain that some
of the college students took advantage of the instruc¬
tion.

The next step was to give students in the College
an opportunity to demonstrate their accomplishments
publicly. In the Commencement program of 1823, there
were orations in Latin, Greek, English, and French.
The title of the French oration was “Sur la Clepsydre”

(on the water clock). There was also a German colloquy,
presented by three seniors. In the 1824 Commencement
exercises, there were orations in Hebrew and German.
In the years immediately following, there was no
French or German oration, although the Hebrew ora¬
tion was continued for several years.

J. L. Russo in his book on Lorenzo da Ponti (1922)
says: “By a curious coincidence, 1825 marks the date
at which the first two chairs of Italian were estab¬
lished at Harvard and Columbia, respectively, with
Pietro Bachi and Lorenzo da Ponti as professors.”

•M. Meilleur is listed in the Middlebury College Catalog of 1824 as a
student in the Senior Class of Castleton Medical College, then a
part of Middlebury College. Already the possessor of an LLD
degree, he received his MD degree from Castleton in 1826. He
returned shortly thereafter to Montreal, where he became a
prominent citizen and, it is reported, was elected Mayor.

28

MIDDLEBURY

And later Russo gives a letter of da Ponti, written in
New York, November 7, 1824, which says: “Last week,
I sent fifteen grammars, as many dictionaries, and
some Italian books to Mr. Patton, professor in Middle-
bury College, where the Italian Language is much
studied, and where they have a fine library of classical
works of our authors.’'*

Perhaps the best evidence of Professor Patton’s
interest in Italian appears in the 1824 “Catalogue of
Books Belonging to the Library of the Philological So¬
ciety of Middlebury College.” Besides many grammars
and dictionaries, there are 66 Italian classical works—
Dante, Ariosto, Boccaccio, Castiglione, Da Vinci, etc.,
most of them published in Milan between 1802 and
1809. This section is far more numerous than the 17
titles in German literature—Schiller, Goethe, Lessing;
only ten titles of French classics appear—Boileau,
Corneille, Racine, Pascal, Stael, Voltaire; while in
Spanish, there was only a four-volume set of Calderon.

French and Spanish added

Thus the first instruction in modern languages
offered by the College was in German (1821) and
probably Italian (1824), both taught by Prof. Patton.
His successor was the first to offer French and Spanish.

In 1825, Prof. Patton having resigned, Rev. John
Hough became Professor of Languages. Although pri¬
marily a classicist, he inserted in the catalog of 1827
and thereafter, under the heading “Extra Studies,”
the following note: “Assistance is likewise furnished
to all who wish to obtain a knowledge of the Hebrew,
French, German, Spanish and Italian languages. And
for the acquisition of any of these languages . . . great
facilities are furnished by the free access to a Philo¬
logical Library, which is open an hour every day under
the superintendence of the Professor of Languages.”
It would appear that students could hardly do very
extensive reading in the daily hour; also, ink was
strictly prohibited in the Library room.

In 1832, there was a French oration in the Com¬
mencement program and a Spanish oration appeared
in the Senior Class Exhibition in 1837. Thereafter
foreign language orations disappeared from the Com¬
mencement exercises; they could not have been very
popular with the general audience.

French vs. German

Language study continued, however, and soon be¬
came a part of the regular curriculum rather than an
“extra study.” When the Winter Term of ten weeks,
December to February, was instituted in 1837 for the
benefit of students who supported themselves by teach¬
ing school in fall and spring, Hebrew, German, or
French was one of the assigned subjects for juniors
and seniors. In 1838, French was given both as an

Prof. Rensselaer Robbins ’35 Prof. Edwin H. Higley '68

assigned and “extra” study, Hebrew and German dis¬
appearing for the moment. Then John Hough became
Professor of English and Solomon Stoddard was made
Professor of Languages. He offered Hebrew, French,
or German from 1841 to 1843, when the Winter Term
was given up, and only Latin and Greek were taught
through 1847. In 1848 German was added as a “regular
study” for second-term Juniors, the only modern lan¬
guage offered, by Rensselaer Robbins ’35, Professor of
Languages (and later Professor of Greek and Ger¬
man), until 1872. A national trend toward German is
evident at that time.

Nationwide, the strong early interest in modern
languages did not show steady growth in spite of the
prestige of men like Ticknor and Longfellow. Until a
decade after the Civil War, professorships and require¬
ments—either for admission or for the degree—were
alternately instituted and dropped in most of the major
colleges. After the American Revolution, French had
generally been the more popular language, partly as a
cultural subject, partly also because of the colonies’
gratitude toward the French, sustained by close po¬
litical ties until after the War of 1812. German was
still under a cloud because of colonial indignation
against the Hessian mercenaries.

Sympathies changed, however, during and after the
Napoleonic wars. Religious people reacted against the
deistic and atheistic philosophies of Voltaire and of
Diderot, while there was great enthusiasm for the
idealistic thinking of Kant and Schelling, discovered
and popularized by the Transcendentalists. New edu¬
cational methods in Germany, reported by Bancroft
and Edward Everett, were followed with interest and
even copied in American schools. It became the goal
of American graduate students in literature, philoso¬
phy, and philology to acquire a German doctorate, and

‘This was brought to my attention by Prof. Kenneth McKenzie of
Princeton.

SPRING 1974

29

Chart at left shows years in which
each of ten languages has been
offered at Middlcbury, in either the
undergraduate or graduate school,
or both. Precise dates for each
language are these: Latin 1800-
197A; Hebrew 71821-37, '41-48,
1909; German 1821, '27-31, '37,
' 41 -'AS, 1848-1974; French 1827-43,
1880-1974; Italian 18247-31,
1932-74; Spanish 1827-31, 1908-09,
1917-74; Russian 1943-74; Chinese
1966-74; Japanese 1970-74.

many hundreds studied at Gottingen, Heidelberg, and spread of the elective system had greatly encouraged

elsewhere. The result was an increased interest in the their study, and increasingly some knowledge of one

study of German. Still, enrollments were small, and modern language was becoming a requirement for ad-

finances for professorships limited. Even in 1885, in mission or for a degree. Consequently, study of French

twenty of the major Eastern universities, there were and German in the secondary schools had increased

only 31 professorships of German, 22 of French, and and these secondary school teachers were looking to

ten for either Spanish or Italian. Middlebury shows the colleges for help and guidance in textbooks and

up well by comparison, maintaining instruction in methods.

“modern languages” continuously after the Civil War. The rapid expansion of interest and enrollments in

modern language study, not only in the United States
Modern Language Association organized but j n Europe as well, gave rise to much discussion

I he year 1883 is a milestone in the teaching of of its objectives and to intensive speculation and ex¬
modern languages. Sentiment had been growing that perimentation on new methods of achieving those

the modern languages should be considered as equals objectives.

<>t Gieek and Latin in the college curriculum, and that There was naturally great disagreement on the

the Ameiican Philological Association did not meet “proper” objectives—intellectual and linguistic disci-

the needs of modern language teachers. Under the pline, literary appreciation, cultural information, com-

leadership ol A. Marshall Elliott of Johns Hopkins, munication, tool skill, etc. There were violent profes-

the Modern Language Association of America was sional battles over the proper “best” method to be used,

founded at a meeting at Columbia University, at

Christmas, 1883, with thirty-two members. The object Teaching methods debated

ot this organization was the advancement of the In an attempt to solve some of the problems and

stud> of model n languages and their literatures/ arbitrate some of the debates, the Modern Language

From the start, it had to contend with the teachers Association and the National Education Association

of the classics who reluctantly relinquished their pri- in 1897 jointly sponsored a Committee of Twelve,

macy, with the unscholarly native speakers who taught whose Report assessed, one by one the five principal

a superficial fluency as a social accomplishment, and teaching methods then under discussion—the Gram-

with the philologists and natural scientists who saw mar, Natural, Series, Phonetic, and Reading methods.

m “ ( ^dem languages onJy a scientific tool. The “Grammar” method, sometimes called the

The first task of the MLA was to survey current “Grammar-Translation” method, is modelled logically

conditions of instruction in modern languages. The upon the one being used to teach Latin and Greek.

30

MIDDLEBURY

■

Prof. Edward D. Collins

The pupil learns the paradigms, rules, exceptions, and
examples by heart. Small bits of the foreign literature
are carefully analyzed and translated, as illustrations
of the grammatical principles. The foreign language
is never spoken; pronunciation is of secondary im¬
portance. Stating that this method had already fallen
into discredit, the Report conceded that it trains the
memory and forms an excellent exercise in close rea¬
soning and logical thinking. On the other hand, the
Report admitted that it brings little contact with the
ideas and culture of the foreign country, and does not
inspire interest in the pupils.

At the opposite pedagogical pole was the “Natural”
method, which had been created in Boston by Lambert
Sauveur and Th. Heness in the late 1860s. The method
seeks the closest possible approximation to the way a
two-year-old learns his mother tongue—hence, the
“natural” method. The teacher points and names; the
pupil points and repeats. The teacher performs an act
and describes it; the pupil mimics and repeats. English
is completely excluded; there is no translation; French
or German is used from the very beginning; grammar
is learned by induction but not explained; pronuncia¬
tion is learned by imitation only; the pupil sees in
print only what he is already familiar with aurally
and orally. Literature and culture are relegated to the
last lessons; Sauveur uses the fables of La Fontaine
and a few literary anecdotes and references.

The method found immediate success and aroused
a furor of criticism and opposition. Conservatives of
the “grammar” method pointed out quite truly that

the natural method treated adults as two-year-olds,
not taking advantage of their maturity, and that it
ignored the fact that they had already acquired in¬
grained habits of pronunciation and vocabulary and
merely substituted sounds rather than imitating ex¬
actly. Other critics claimed that a good speaking
knowledge is impossible to attain, useless even if at¬
tained, and not the proper objective of an education.

The Report granted that the “natural” method stim¬
ulated much more pupil interest and even enthusiasm
than the “grammar” method; that it is a good supple¬
ment for those who have had training in grammar
and reading; and that it will have a “vivifying influ¬
ence” upon the profession. Everyone agreed that
“everything depends upon the teacher.” Sauveur was
beyond doubt a gifted teacher, a brilliant conversa¬
tionalist, possessing skill, wit, and a great store of
information.

A more systematic technique, originated by Francois
Gouin, was known variously as the “Series” method
or the “Psychological” method. Gouin, born in 1831
and educated in France, went to Germany to complete
his studies in philosophy. He relates that he made a
dismal failure of learning German by the usual, classi¬
cal method; but studying the way his three-year-old
nephew had learned his mother tongue, he discovered
the new system which he describes in The Art of
Teaching and Studying Languages.

This method endeavors to apply to the “natural”
method the more sophisticated principles of associa¬
tion of ideas. Groups of closely related idiomatic
phrases are worked out orally, by sequences of images,
and memorized by repetition and reworking. Panto¬
mime and imagination are highly important. English
may be used when necessary; grammar is explained
when useful. Objective images lead gradually to sub¬
jective series. Vocabulary is stressed, but always in
context. Pronunciation is only imitative. Reading and
literature are postponed until very late or neglected
entirely.

Phonetic, Reading, and Eclectic Methods

Correct pronunciation, which had been neglected
in the methods so far discussed, is the basis of the
“Phonetic” method, originated by Wilhelm Vietor,
with the publication (in 1880) of a brochure: Der
Sprachunterricht nmss umkehren. (“There must be a
revolution in language instruction”). It also became
known in Europe as the “Reform” method. The method
was widely popular in Germany, and was also current
in France, aided by the journal Maxtre Phonetique,
which urged the use of its international phonetic
alphabet.

The “Phonetic” method, like the “Natural” and the
“Psychological” systems, is an oral method. Instruc¬
tion begins with scientific training of the ear and the
vocal organs, rather than by imitation, as before.

SPRING 1974

31

All out for stickball? No, a tableau from the 1910 Roman play
wherein one “G. Piso” says to his wife , “Take the keys,

dear ” and goes off to jail.

Charts and diagrams are used; sounds are studied and
reproduced in isolation and in combination. When
printed texts are introduced, they are exclusively in
phonetic notation, gradually increasing in difficulty.
Standard orthography is hidden for several months.
The foreign language is used as exclusively as pos¬
sible, but scientific explanations are given in English.
Grammar is presented inductively, much later. There
is very little reading of literature. The “Phonetic”
method seeks to compensate for this lack by intro¬
ducing large quantities of cultural objects, called
“ realia ”—pictures, maps, objects from daily life. The
discovery of the importance of “realia” was quickly
utilized by most teachers, whatever the method used.

The “Phonetic” method was attempted in some
schools in the United States and widely discussed be¬
tween 1900 and 1915, but never widely adopted, chiefly
for lack of trained phoneticians, or even teachers with
a knowledge of phonetics. But the importance of good
pronunciation, scientifically taught, was brought
forcibly to public attention. It is noteworthy that the
Middlebury Language Schools responded early with
well-organized courses in phonetics for teachers, and
even developed one of the earliest phonetics labora¬
tories. The “phonetic” method had the disadvantage
of postponing the reading of literature until too late
for the usual American secondary-school language
course. Students also complained of the time lost in
learning a whole new alphabet.

Finally, the “Reading” method is a sort of second
line of defense for the conservatives. Starting with a
realistic appraisal of the situation in most high schools
at that time, where a poorly prepared teacher with a
large class had four hours a week for two years to
achieve some end result, the Report decides that the
chief objective must be the reading of good literature

with some enjoyment. To arrive at this, the “Reading”
method ignores pronunciation and oral work, reduces
grammar to its bare essentials, and introduces the
reading of selected texts at the very beginning. Abun¬
dant practice in translation at sight, it is hoped, will
lead the pupil as rapidly as possible to direct reading
without translating. The Report maintains that this
method will develop the pupil’s literary taste and in¬
crease his vocabulary, but admits that it lacks stimulus
and vivacity; it is also demoralizing for the teacher,
for it gives him no incentive to improve his mastery
of the language. Since the Middlebury schools were
founded primarily for the improvement of the lan¬
guage teacher, the Middlebury attitude toward the
“reading” method, even in 1915, is obvious.

Several other terms have been used to describe
methods being discussed in 1915. In France, the term
“methode directe” came into large use. It was a version
of the “reform” method in Germany. The “pure”
Methode Directe starts with a clean break from the
mother tongue, and attempts to build thought patterns
in the foreign tongue. In American schools, English is
completely taboo; the pupil is totally immersed in the
foreign sounds, ideas, constructions, symbols, and
culture. Pronunciation is crucial from the start; the
psychological series are used; grammar is taught only
by induction; composition is the writing of what the
pupil can already say orally. Reading is introduced
gradually but is not pushed, and becomes the basis
for class conversation. Translation is a contradiction
of the central thesis—thinking in the foreign lan¬
guage. However feasible it might be for the high
school student, the influence of this method and of the
vehement discussion about it, on the Middlebury pro¬
gram for the training of teachers is very evident.

It is doubtful that the Direct method was much used
in its “pure” state in 1915. The younger generation of
teachers in American secondary schools had repudi¬
ated the old “grammar-translation” method, and were
quite dissatisfied with the dullness of the “reading”
method. At the same time, they did not feel that the
pure “direct” method was realistic for their own ability
and for the circumstances. An Eclectic method became
the compromise. It varied over a wide spectrum of
considerations and gave great liberty to the individual
teacher, for good or ill. The chief tenets of the best
“eclectic” method were: pronunciation taught care¬
fully from the start, but without great insistence upon
phonetic characters; oral presentation of material,
books closed, until proper oral habits were formed;
maximum use of the foreign language by the pupils
in active participation; grammar taught inductively
but explained in English minimally when necessary;
reading in prepared texts introduced quite early, with
discussion on the text in the target language but with¬
out translation; exercises in “free” composition based

32

MIDDLEBURY

upon the reading and oral work, i.e., materials already
familiar orally; and abundant use of realia and ma¬
terial on the foreign culture.

The ideal Eclectic method makes heavy demands
upon the teacher, requiring one who speaks the lan¬
guage fluently and correctly, is trained in phonetics,
has mastered the grammar, and is at home in the
foreign culture, literature, and civilization, its ways of
thinking and doing. The teacher must also know what
his objectives are in each class, the best techniques
for achieving them, and the materials necessary. He
must know, Anally, how the language class fits into
the whole curriculum, and how it pertains to the on¬
going studies and interests of his students. It was to
prepare teachers of this quality that the Middlebury
Summer Language Schools were founded, beginning
in 1915. Since those schools were begun within the
framework of a Summer Session already in operation
for six summers, that previous program is significant
in Middlebury’s history.

Middlebury’s Summer Sessions—
precursor of the Language Schools

“Middlebury College will open her doors for the first
Summer Session on Tuesday, July 6th, 1909. The ses¬
sion will continue for six weeks, closing on August
13th.” So reads the Middlebury College Bulletin pub¬
lished in February 1909. Dr. Walter E. Howard, A.B.,
Middlebury 1871, LL.D. Ripon, Professor of History
and Dean of the College, was appointed Director of the
Summer Session.

Tuition was $10 for one or more courses. Starr Hall
was reserved for women; men roomed in Painter Hall.
The room charge was $1 a week; table board was fur¬
nished at Hamlin Commons (located on a site now
occupied by the Science Center) at $3.50 per week.
There were three hotels in town: The Addison House,
The Logan, and The Sargent, and several boarding
houses for students and their families.

The curriculum presented a wide range of course
offerings, a real smorgasbord to choose from. Twenty-
four faculty members offered a total of 46 courses, in
Greek, Latin, English, German, French, Spanish, Psy¬
chology, Philosophy, Pedagogy, History of Education,
History, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry,
Biblical Literature, Hebrew, Physical Culture, Do¬
mestic Science, Arts and Crafts, and Manual Training,
including metal craft, pottery, wood carving, and bent
iron work. There was also a staff of twelve special lec¬
turers. Who could fail to find something of interest
in such an array?

There were two good reasons for this extraordinarily
ambitious start for a summer session. One was evi¬
dently to utilize the staff and facilities of the College
during the summer. The other reason becomes clear
in the dealings of President Thomas with the Vermont

Most of the 25-man Faculty of the first Summer Session (1909) pose before
Old Chapel with Dean Walter Howard ’71 and Pres. John M. Thomas ’ 90 .
Session ivas forerunner of Summer Language School begun in 1915.

State Board of Education and the Legislature.

In October 1908, Pres. Thomas presented a petition
to the Legislature for an annual grant of $6,000 to
create a Department of Pedagogy. He pointed out that
there was at that time no institution in Vermont
which provided special teacher training for students
preparing to teach in Vermont high schools and acade¬
mies. The existing normal schools trained teachers
only for the primary and grammar grades. The Uni¬
versity of Vermont was receiving large grants to sup¬
port “instruction in the industrial arts,” and Norwich
University likewise to support instruction in engineer¬
ing and military science. Middlebury College saw its
special mission in the training of teachers in the lib¬
eral arts for the secondary schools.

The annual appropriation of $6,000 was granted and
a Department of Pedagogy established for the aca¬
demic year, in October 1909. Dr. Edward D. Collins,
(PhD, Yale, Principal of the Vermont State Normal
School) was appointed to head the new department.
President Thomas reported to the Legislature the
following year that the new department “had so far
exceeded expectations that in the last two years the
College has experienced a veritable birth of new life.
Students have increased from 203 to 275.” But the
money received from the State was by no means suffi¬
cient to provide for the increase, and he now petitioned
for an additional appropriation of $7,600 to bring the
grant up to the total received by the University of
Vermont. (So great indeed was Dr. Thomas’ and Dr.
Collins’ sense of mission in the training of teachers
that in 1918 they had worked out a complete plan for
transferring the Women’s College—land, buildings and
equipment—to the State of Vermont for a “Vermont
Teachers’ College,” to be operated entirely indepen¬
dently of Middlebury. Middlebury would then revert to

SPRING 1974

33

an all-male school. The Middlebury Trustees put a
decisive end to the plan.)

All this planning and activity explains much of the
character of Middlebury’s Summer Session, in its be¬
ginnings and in its later orientation as well, the pii-
mary raison d’etre of the Language Schools has been
the training of teachers. In 1909, Dr. Thomas had seen
in the new Summer Session a chance to prove to the
Legislature that the secondary-school teachers of the
state urgently needed upgrading, and that Middlebury
could do the job effectively. He succeeded in persuad¬
ing the State Department of Education to hold a State
Summer School at Middlebury for ten days, offering
instruction chiefly in Manual Training, Arts and
Crafts, Domestic Science, and Pedagogy. (We would
now call it a “Workshop.”) Enrollment was separate
from the College Session, but teachers attending the
State Summer School could also enroll in the College
Session. And here was the crowning stroke: free tui¬
tion was granted in the College Summer Session to all
teachers employed full-time in Vermont schools and
also to all clergymen of the state.

Enrollment in the 1909 College Summer Session
totalled 86, of whom 45 were teachers in Vermont. The
modern languages were conspicuous in the curriculum:
French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, as well as English.
No elementary courses were offered in French or Ger¬
man. There is no hint of special attention to the oral
use of the language.

The Second Summer Session, in 1910, was similar,
with approximately the same courses, designed to at¬
tract everyone—teachers of all grades, high school
students with admission deficiencies, college students
making up work, clergymen and Bible School workers.
The State Summer Session was again held in conjunc¬
tion, for the first ten days.

By the Summer Session of 1913, enrollment had
grown to 120, 45 men and 75 women. Fifty percent
were teachers or school officers; a majority of the rest
were college students. The first ten days of the classes
in Domestic Science, Nature Study, and Arts and
Crafts again constituted an approved State Summer
School, designed primarily for teachers of rural and
graded schools.*

The physical expansion of the College had facilitated
this increased enrollment. The completion of Pearsons
Hall in the spring of 1911, and the addition of a large
dining hall for 100 at the rear of Battell Cottage next
to it, had given ample facility. Women were housed in

•For lack of space, significant portions of the Middlebury story
between 1910 and 1915 have been omitted in this article: the work
of President Thomas and Edward Day Collins in the Summer Session;
Skillings, Chairman of the German Dept, and later Dean of the
German Summer School; Miss Minnie Hayden and her Music School;
Wilfred Davison, teacher of German before he helped to found the
Bread Loaf School of English; Hiram Parker Williamson and his
teaching at Middlebury before, as M. de Visme, he founded the
French Summer School.

Prof. Lilian Stroebe

Pearsons Hall and Battell Cottage; men occupied
Painter and Starr. Pearsons was the center of social
life; receptions, teas, and musicales were held there.
The McCullough Gymnasium, completed in 1912, of¬
fered fine new equipment for indoor games. The Porter
Athletic Field was opened in the spring of 1913 for
outdoor sports. Tennis courts had been completed near
McCullough for men, and near Pearsons for women.
Teachers were the favored group, as usual.

The first Summer Language School

Such is the background of that June day in 1915
when Fraulein Stroebe opened in Pearsons Hall the
first advanced, specialized and isolated summer school
of a modern language in the United States. Nothing is
ever totally new. Middlebury College had shown a
strong interest in modern languages since its early
days. Its six previous summer sessions beginning in
1909 had given an important place to modern lan¬
guages. Many theories of teaching method had been
developed and hotly debated in this country and abroad.
Many skillful teachers had organized schools and
ingenious experiments for teaching some aspect of a
foreign language and its culture. Public interest in
modern languages had increased and the objectives of
modern language study has changed through the years.
All this sets the stage and helps to explain the im¬
mediate impact of the “Middlebury idea,” Fraulein
Stroebe’s inspiration. Her great achievement was to
crystallize realistically into a single plan the many
widely varied and scattered ideas, theories, and experi¬
ments then current, and with real genius to organize
them into a practical and successful school. □

34

MIDDLEBURY

Letters

Fraternities
To the Editor:

“One thing that’s making us a bit ner¬
vous is the physical condition of the
houses. . . . DU, it appears to me, has
declined tremendously just in the last
three years.”

Tim Carey

“As the gung-ho-ness went out of fra¬
ternities, so did the kind of spirit that
kept them in shape.”

Erica Wonnacott

I cannot believe that these statements
were printed. This type of exaggeration
could lead alumni and anyone else who
reads the News Letter , to believe that
the houses are crumbling shacks and
should either be torn down or taken over
and renovated by the College. I was tre¬
mendously disturbed after reading the
article and would ask Deans Wonnacott
and Carey to take another look at the
physical condition of the fraternity
houses.

During the past few years, Delta Upsi-
lon has greatly improved the appearance
of the house. The interior and exterior
of the house has been painted. The dead
ivy around the windows has been elim¬
inated. The furniture throughout the
house has been rebuilt. A shag rug has
been placed in the green room along
with the construction of an attractive
bar in the same room. A new refriger¬
ator with ample space to accommodate
the needs of the house, is present in the
kitchen. A new 25-inch color TV was
purchased in the last few years. These
are a few of the improvements in the
physical condition of DU which took
place from 1969-1972.

Improvements and maintenance of the
DU House are being continued by the
present undergraduate members of DU.
I was at Middlebury for Homecoming
last Fall and was impressed with the
appearance of not only DU but also with
Chi Psi and Sig Ep. I have never seen
Sig Ep in better condition than the ap¬
pearance of the house at Homecoming.
The exterior of the house had been re¬
cently painted and the grounds around
the house were in good condition. Addi¬
tional improvements in the DU House
include: a parking lot constructed on the
Deke side of the house and the TV room
has been completely renovated along with
interior painting throughout the house.

My conclusion is that the physical con¬
dition of the fraternity houses, especially
DU which is the house I am most fa¬
miliar with, are in as good shape, if not
better than most College residence halls.

I question the basis of the College’s in¬
terest in taking over the ownership and
maintenance of the houses. The frater¬
nity system at Middlebury is changing
from a reliance on custom and ceremony
to a closer interaction of interests among
friends. This last point was substantiated
by a large gathering of interested alumni
on Homecoming weekend. Recently there
has been an increase in communications
between undergraduates and alumni
within the fraternity system and this
type of communication can lead to bene¬
fits for both the College and the Frater¬
nities. The Fraternity System at Middle¬
bury will continue to be an intricate part
of the College experience only if Frater¬
nities are allowed to continue under
present ownership.

Richard J. Dowd ’72

Somerville, Mass.

Dean Wonnacott comments:

I would agree with Mr. Dowd, the
houses are in better shape now than
they've been in years. There seemed a
great surge of spirit and energy this
fall. I applaud it! Unfortunately, the
comments in the article were written
last summer on the basis of the past ten
years.

To the Editor:

“Can Middlebury’s Fraternities Sur¬
vive?” Hell no! Not under Dennis
O’Brien who I think is trying to wreck
the college fraternities. Little Princeton!
Let’s send him back where he came from.

I had willed a sum of money in excess
of five figures to the College. But that
is now changed and will never be rein¬
stated.

Middlebury was always a place that I
loved and cherished but no more. Thank
you.

Miller F. Naylor ’27
Somerville, N.J.

To the Editor:

The Winter Issue of the News Letter
contains an article concerning fraterni¬
ties at Middlebury which might tend to
suggest that the administration has al¬
ready acted to do away with them. How¬
ever, the present situation has been
altered dramatically to a point where I
feel certain these institutions will indeed
be at Middlebury next year in essen¬
tially the same form as toclay. After a
full year of debate on the issue, both the
administration and the fraternities have
come to a more real (I hope) assessment
of the problems involved. Current admin¬
istration suggestions include 1) a provi¬
sion that there be a new on-campus,

voting member of each alumni corpora¬
tion and 2) the college have first option
on a fraternity, should it ever be for
sale. Details on this and the Fraternity
Fact-Finding Report may be obtained
from Dean of the College in Old Chapel.

A more favorable relationship between
the college and the fraternities should
result from the discussions; I feel more
optimistic about the future of fraterni¬
ties than ever before and I sincerely hope
alumni share and support this feeling.
There have even been hints that the pre¬
inflation rebate to fraternity members
may be adjusted to suit present condi¬
tions.

William H. Hoyt ’74, Pres., Chi Psi

Chrmn, Student Forum Working
Group on Fraternities

Nostalgia
To the Editor:

Every time the News Letter arrives, I
glance first at the Class Notes for news
of people in and near my class of ’46. Of
late years, this has been rather half¬
hearted since there is almost never any
’46 news at all. We are, apparently, a
singularly undistinguished group.

Imagine my delight then in discover¬
ing in this last issue (Winter, 1974) the
marvelous article, “Two Cakes and a
Beagle to Middlebury” by June Brogger
Noble. What happy memories it evoked ...
and what a refreshing trip into nos¬
talgia! In no way maudlin, but warm ...
warm . . . warm! Dear Brogger—I salute
her, and am glad she, too, is enjoying a
home on “the Atlantic shore.” Thanks
for printing her material . . . let’s have
more!

Jean Smith Murphy ’46

Waldoboro, Maine

No nix on proxy pix
To the Editor:

As parent of two Middlebury students,
one being graduated and one a sopho¬
more, I take exception to the two letters
in the Winter, 1974, issue of the Middle¬
bury College News Letter decrying the
inclusion of so many photographs of
President Armstrong in the Autumn ’73
issue.

I found them interesting, appropriate
and not at all too numerous in an issue
dedicated to Dr. Armstrong’s accomplish¬
ments in his first decade as president of
Middlebury College.

In the past, to encourage prospective
students’ interest in Middlebury, I have
given several young people copies of
the News Letter, and I feel this issue,

(continued on cover III)

SPRING 1974

35

Peewee Hockey Moves Outdoors

Though the early-February temper¬
ature hovered near the ten-below mark,
that didn’t deter the 30 sweather-clad
town youngsters from appearing early
at the Middlebury Recreation Park.
Their parents, though more warmly
dressed, were less eager to brave the
clear, biting cold: with hot chocolate
and things stronger to fortify them,
they huddled about the fire in the
Park’s “warming house”, waiting for
a 10:00 a.m. whistle to summon them
outside.

The whistle would signal the open¬
ing faceoff of a hockey game between
the Middlebury Peewees and their
counterparts from Hampstead, Que¬
bec, a Montreal suburb. Later, a sec¬
ond whistle would signal the start of
another game, between the Middlebury
and Hampstead Bantams.

Though cold, it wasn’t a bad day
for the home crowd. Middlebury’s well-
coached Peewees, rink rats at age 10
and 11, came out on the winning end

of a 6-3 score against the highly
touted Canadians, while the Bantams,
12 and 13 years old, lost a 5-4 squeaker.

The games marked the first time the
new community outdoor rink had been
used for international competition.
The presence of the outdoor rink it¬
self, just off Court Street, also marked
a new accomplishment in town-gown
cooperation, for it was largely through
the efforts of Middlebury faculty, ad¬
ministrators, alumni and their spouses
that it came into existence.

The story began four years ago,
when Athletic Director Richard W.
Colman, Jr., recently arrived from
Princeton, asked an obvious question
of the locals: where could kids play
hockey in town? In response, the Mid¬
dlebury Amateur Hockey Association
(MAHA) was formed, and 60 kids, in
attire ranging from complete Bobby
On* outfits to newspaper shin pads
and figure skates, showed up one day
at the College’s indoor rink.

In succeeding years the organizers
began to face a logistical problem, as
the original 60 participants multiplied
like snowshoe rabbits into a formid¬
able 200. Though the College had been
generous in donating rink time, there
just wasn’t enough hours in the day
to accommodate all the junior puck-
sters.

Last summer the MAHA organizers
got together to raise money for hockey
boards of their own: the wood panels,
supports and the protective wiring
that enclose a hockey rink. Not sur¬
prisingly, considering the backgrounds
of those who organized gift solicita¬
tion, the money came easily. With sup¬
port from College Comptroller Luther
Van Ummersen and Director of An¬
nual Giving Ed Sommers ’60, and with
additional help from a number of
parents, alumni, faculty, administra¬
tors and spouses, by summer’s end the
MAHA had raised some $4200—more
than enough to get the project off the
ground.

The Recreation Park, with its exist¬
ing floodlit public skating area, was
the obvious location. By November the
boards were in place, thanks to the
efforts of the Dutton Smith (’51) con¬
struction company, the manual labor
of Rick Kelley ’71, and the painting
expertise of Joan Todd, wife of George
Todd, associate professor of music.

Another band of volunteers put in
some cold early morning hours paint¬
ing hockey lines and circles on the ice,
and the kids were in business. When
they weren’t, the rink was at the dis¬
posal of all other town residents.

In addition to some 80 intra-town
games, a selected group of youngsters
faced teams from Hampstead (ar¬
ranged by Kyle Prescott ’48), Beverly
Farms, Mass, (coached by Bill Cahill
’53) and Princeton, N. J. (coached by
Mike Karin ’59), as well as Vermont
squads from Burlington, Northfield,
and Essex Junction. With the volun¬
teer coaching of retired Athletic Di¬
rector Walter J. “Duke” Nelson ’32,
Admissions Director Fred Neuberger
’50, Bill Everett ’72 (ex-varsity cap¬
tain), Larry Perlman ’74 (co-captain
and goalie of this year’s varsity), and
others, the Midd kids acquitted them¬
selves well: The Peewees ended up
with a 7-8 overall record, while the
Bantams were 3-8. The parents ended
up cold.

36

MIDDLEBURY

WINTER

SPORTS

By Max Petersen

With both the varsity hockey and basket¬
ball teams recording losing seasons, winter
sports have clearly slid into one of those
occasional dips in the graph of success.
Some bright spots during the season were
the ski team’s climb from a fourth- to
second-place finish in the Easterns, winning
marks posted by the B hockey and basket¬
ball teams, and some outstanding individual
performances.

With several veterans returning from
last year’s 11-10-1 hockey team and from
last year’s 15-8 basketball squad, plus some
promising sophomores, the outlook for win¬
ter sports this year was optimistic.

Among the factors that reversed team
fortunes, probably the most damaging was
the loss of key personnel. Although most
coaches like to think that it takes several
players to make a team, the loss of only one
or two leaders can have a major effect on
play.

HOCKEY

The Middlebury skaters started off well
and seemed bent on improving on last year’s
record: They opened in Canada with back-
to-back shutouts of MacDonald College and
College Militaire Royale, the first pair of
consecutive scoreless games posted by a
Panther hockey team since the 1960-61 sea¬
son. Offensively the team also looked sound,
scoring a total of 11 points against their
first two opponents.

Back in the friendly confines of Memorial
Field House, the Panthers continued to flex
their muscles: they blasted Wesleyan 9-3,
and played well against the University of
Massachusetts before suffering their first
defeat, 3-0. But just when the team seemed
to be starting to roll, they had to lay aside
their sticks for a month-long break and
never were really the same afterwards.

After downing AIC 6-2, the Panthers
took three straight losses from the toughest
opposition on the schedule: consecutive de¬
feats by Division I contender St. Lawrence,
6-1, an undefeated Salem State club, 2-1,
and powerful Vermont, 4-2, appeared to
dampen the team’s enthusiasm. Lack of an

offensive punch, which plagued the team all
year, may have caused the players to press
and the more they pressed the harder it was
to score. After scoring 7 goals in beating
the Alumni, 7-5, the team averaged fewer
than two goals per game over the next 11
games, 10 of which they lost.

An unimpressive Norwich team edged the
Panthers 4-3 in what proved to be a costly
contest. Outstanding veteran defenseman
Charlie O’Sullivan suffered a shoulder sepa¬
ration which sidelined him for most of the
season. His leadership and ability were
sorely missed in the game at Amherst
where the roof fell in. The Lord Jeffs, who

As airborne scoring ace
Kevin Cummings '76 from
Jersey City shoots, Rut¬
land's Dave Davidson '75
heads for boards to control
rebound. Team had tough
year (9-1 It) but ref used
to give up.

SPRING 1974

37

Puck rebounds from arm pad as senior Larry Perlman from Montreal
makes one of 694 saves that kept faltering teammates in the game,
night after night. Four-year career record of 3.25 goals allowed per

game is best in maiiy years.

were the doormat of New England college
hockey this year, blasted the Panthers 5-2.

Demoralized by that one, the team
dropped the next three at home to Williams,
Hamilton, and Boston State. The defense
suffered another blow in the Boston State
game when veteran defender Rick Simourd
injured his leg. Both Simourd and senior
Barry Jones deserve a lot of credit for play¬
ing non-stop through much of the contest.
Apparently thriving on extra duty, Barry
also played without relief in several other
games. Simourd missed the Maine trip to
Colby and Bates, but did return to action
against St. Anselm’s, although still trou¬
bled by his injury.

Middlebury finally picked up its first win
of 1974 as goal-tender Larry Perlman re¬
corded his third shutout of the season in a
3-0 whitewash of the Colby Mules. The taste
of victory was brief, however, for the
Panthers dropped their next five games—
to Bowdoin, St. Anselm’s, Williams, and
Vermont by identical 4-2 scores and to Nor¬
wich 4-3. Spurred on by the return of
O’Sullivan, the team played well against
Vermont and were in the game until the
final minute of play. Another strong effort
fell short against Norwich, a vastly im¬
proved team which hung on for its 4-3 win.

The Panthers closed out the frustrating
season with wins over CMR, 13-1, and
Lowell Tech, 3-2, to raise their record to
7-14. This was the poorest Middlebury
hockey season since 1963-64 when the
Panthers finished 3-20.

The exceptional play of senior goalie
Larry Perlman was one of the few bright
spots of the season; Larry played the finest
and most consistent hockey of his career.
Despite defensive lapses of the team, he
maintained a fine save percentage of 92,
and allowed an average of just under three
goals a game.

In B team action this year, the hockey
team posted a winning season, 6-5, after
getting off to a slow start. Coach Bob
Pfeiffer whipped his squad into an effective
unit by midseason. One of the key games
was a thrilling 6-5 overtime win at Will¬
iams. Several players from the 20-man
squad will step up next year to fill key
vacancies on the varsity squad.

Left, in scene all too rare this season
sophomore Jack Leary from Hingham,
Mass, beats Wesleyan goalie as Randy
Mattsoyi (23) of Manitouwadge, Ont.,
signals score. Above, more typical tableau
has St. Lawrence goalie and defenseman
sprawled well forward of crease but no
Panther in position to tip in deflected shot.
Garth Parker (15) digs for errant puck.

BASKETBALL

Coach Tom Lawson’s basketball squad
had considerable returning talent and on
paper seemed a good bet to equal the two
previous 15-8 seasons. But the team ran
into personnel problems from the start and
dropped four of its first five games. Veteran
guard A1 Turner left the team for personal

38

MIDDLEBURY

reasons, and 6'-8" center Dave Davidson,
who was considered the key to a successful
season, saw little action because of a pro¬
tracted bout with mononucleosis. Although
Dave missed just six games, he was only
partly effective in the remaining contests.

Middlebury, which had upset Union in
both openers of the last two years, ran into
good defense and dropped the first game
to the Dutchmen, 70-58. Rebounding from
that poor start, the Panthers played an out¬
standing game at home against St. Mich¬
ael’s, only to lose their chance for an upset
in the final seconds; score, 79-77. Their first
win came at home over Lowell Tech, 69-63.

Following a 19-day layoff, Middlebury
ran into stiff competition in the Bentley
College Christmas Tournament and dropped
two more games. They lost to Bentley, then
the top-ranked small college in New En¬
gland, by 108-81 in the opening round and
bowed in the consolation game with Hunter
College by 63-58.

Middlebury started the new year by losing
a squeaker at Hamilton, 70-68. In another
tight one, the Panthers downed Plattsburgh,
66-64. (Plattsburgh substituted for Coast
Guard when the fuel shortage kept the
sailors in port.)

The Panthers proceeded to lose their next
three games, to Wesleyan, Colby, and Trin¬
ity, and with the season nearly half over,
owning an anemic 2-8 record they seemed
headed for a season reminiscent of Middle¬
bury teams in the 1960s.

But led by co-captains Dave Pentkowski
and Jack Kirsch, the gutty squad hung in
there and refused to lie down: their deter¬
mination and hard work paid off in the next
game which they won in overtime by upset¬
ting a top-ranked Worcester Tech team.
That big win proved to be the turning
point: the Panthers went on to defeat Nor¬
wich and upset a strong Williams five. Since
the Williams game fell during the winter-
term recess, it was played at Rutland High
School to give fans in that area a look at
college ball.

At Medford Middlebury ran into a hot-
shooting Tufts team and was blasted by a
29 point margin. Still on the road, the
Panthers came up with their greatest of¬
fensive effort in years by rolling over
Bowdoin, 103-69. At Brunswick, Pentkow¬
ski who at this point began playing the
finest basketball of his career, and Kevin
Cummings, came up with 25- and 28-point
efforts, respectively.

The team continued to roll by disposing
of Clarkson in a tight battle. Following a
loss to a good Bates club, the Panthers
edged MIT, blew a halftime lead and lost
to Amherst, and then buried Norwich by 30

points during Winter Carnival.

Middlebury then dropped three, to Ver¬
mont, St. Lawrence, and RPI to close out
the season with a 9-14 mark.

One of the highlights of the stretch drive
was the selection of Pentkowski to the Divi¬
sion II ECAC All-Star team in two consecu¬
tive weeks. He became the first Middlebury
player since the days of Tom Hart and A1
“Sonny” Dennis in the 1950s to be so hon¬
ored and was the only Vermont college
player this year to earn two straight berths.

Pentkowski wound up the season averag¬
ing about 16 points per game, slightly be¬
hind the scoring leader Kevin Cummings,
who had just over 16. Sophomore forward
Dave Nelson also completed the season in
double figures.

SPRING 1974

39

In Eastern Chatnpionships
held this year at Snow
Bowl , freshman Dave
Gavett of Wilmington, Vt.
threads a gate in two-run
slalorti event won by
Middlebury.

The decision not to have a B basketball
team this year was soon reversed when
several players came out for the squad
shortly before the season opened. Showing
good size and shooting ability, the young
hoopsters established themselves as a solid
unit under Coach Gary Hindley and went
on to record the finest B-team season ever
—9-3. The big win was a sound 95-79
thumping of St. Michael’s freshmen. If the
three or four freshmen who played with the
varsity had been regulars, the B team rec¬
ord might have been even more awesome.

SKIING

With several top skiers lost through grad¬
uation, Middlebury’s ski team was cast in
pre-season polls as an underdog in the race
for the Eastern title with defending-cham-
pion Vermont and an improved Dartmouth
squad. Coach John Bower ‘63 predicted that
the team’s fortunes would hinge on devel¬
opment of untested freshman talent, par¬
ticularly in the alpine events.

As the racing season progressed it be¬
came apparent that the Panthers had some
outstanding alpine talent in freshman Rod
Bicknell, Brad Boyce, Dave Gavett, and
John Jacobs. Freshmen Brant McDougall,

a topnotch Canadian cross-country skier,
and Peter Guest, a jumper, also exhibited
potential which would help the nordic squad.

When lack of snow early in February
forced cancellation of the Vermont Carni¬
val, Middlebury had to wait for the Dart¬
mouth meet to learn how it would stack up
against the front runners. At Dartmouth
the young Panther alpinists got off to a fair
start in the slalom, with Bicknell taking
3rd, Jacobs 9th, and Gavett 11th to give
their team a third. Middlebury did even
better in the giant slalom with veteran
Peter Ord finishing 2nd, Jacobs 3rd, and
Gavett 8th.

Although Middlebury won the Williams
meet the following weekend, it wasn’t a
true test as several top skiers were absent
from each team. The outstanding com¬
petitor in the meet was Jacobs, who won
both the giant slalom and slalom. McDougall
was 2nd in cross-country and Lantz was
runnerup in the jump. Trailing Middlebury
in the Williams competition were Vermont,
second, and Dartmouth, third.

Coach Bower predicted that the Easterns
at the Snow Bowl on the following weekend
would be close and he wasn’t far from
wrong. Even though a three-way battle,
with Vermont included, didn’t materialize,
the Big Green and Panthers went right
down to the wire before Dartmouth took
the title by nine points. Defending cham¬
pion Vermont was a distant third.

Rod Bicknell was 2nd in the giant slalom
and Ord 10th. The cross-country team was
more successful with McDougall in 2nd,
Ward 4th, and Lantz in 9th. Middlebury
posted a solid performance in slalom to win
that event on the basis of Jacob’s 3rd, Bick-
nell’s 4th and Boyce’s 5th. Despite Ver¬
mont’s and Dartmouth’s Norwegian jump¬
ers, Middlebury got a 5t.h from Lantz, a
12th from Fulton, and 14th from Guest.
Final leaders: Dartmouth 175, Middlebury
166, Vermont 123.

Middlebury’s women skiers under Coach
Bonnie Bower were also locked in a real
battle with Dartmouth and Vermont women
all season. Going into the Middlebury Car¬
nival, Dartmouth girls had won their own
meet and the UVM women had taken the
UNH meet. On home ground Middlebury
girls came up with a complete sweep of the
giant slalom, slalom, and cross-country to
win the meet by a six-point margin over
Dartmouth. Panther cross-country skier
Terry Porter won her event while both
Chris Tower and Ellie Davie placed in the
top ten. Consistent alpine skiers were Deb¬
bie Martin, Tina Besse, Stephie Cole, Sandy
Stroock, and Edie MacAusland. □

40

MIDDLEBURY

Letters

(continued from page 35)

revealing Dr. Armstrong’s feelings and
thoughts about running a college, has
the “emphasis” exactly “in the right
place,” since any institution must reflect
the philosophy of its president, and Dr.
Armstrong’s is a fine philosophy. Surely
it deserves exposition at the end of ten
years of achievement, if not more often!

Incidentally, I counted his pictures in
the five issues preceding, and found one
in Summer ’73 and two in Autumn ’72,
hardly reflecting a “proclivity to dwell

on the face of President Armstrong,” it
seems to me!

Lucille Carroll
Bernardsville, N.J.

Arboreal nemesis?

To the Editor:

Anent the interesting article on the
William Douglas gravesite in the Au¬
tumn News Letter, I first inadvertently
visited it after a badly shanked 4th tee
drive in the Fall of 1940 during my
Freshman year orientation week. It was
about as vulnerable to my golf expertise
as was Egbert Hadley’s front yard on
my 3rd hole drives (I find a lot of inter¬
esting things that way) and in 1940 the

gravestone itself was intact although
leaning a bit downhill.

Soon after the hurricane of November
1951 (?) we had rather mild weather,
and then being on the faculty at Midd, I
went out to “hit a few” and although by
now I was in a bad “hook pattern,” I
saw from the 4th tee that a large tree
had uprooted over there, so I went over
to investigate. About ten feet above the
tree I found the headstone, now in two
pieces, broken by the falling tree. I like
to imagine that the grandson (or grand¬
daughter) of that tree that killed Doug¬
las was continuing the capricious ways
of its ancestor. . . .

Hal Parker ’44

Shrewsbury, Mass.

*

Middlebury

COLLEGE NEWS LETTER

Second-class postage paid
at Middlebury, Vt. 05753.

Send Form 3579

COMMENCEMENT 1974

May 24-26

FRIDAY, MAY 24

1:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.

Registration, Proctor Lounge

6:30 p.m.

Buffet supper, Bread Loaf Inn

8:00 p.m.

Alumni seminar, Bread Loaf Theatre

SATURDAY, MAY 2$

7:30 a.m.

Bird walks: Meet at Bread Loaf Inn or Old Chapel

8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Registration and coffee, Proctor Lounge

9:30 a.m.

Alumni Council meeting, Pearsons Living Room

9:30 a.m.

Tour of the campus Meet at Proctor Lounge

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Class photographs. Memorial Field House

12:15 p.m.

Alumni luncheon. Memorial Field House

2:15 p.m.

Tour of the campus, Meet at Proctor Lounge

2:30 p.m.

R.O.T.C. Commissioning, Dana Auditorium

3:30 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.

President's Reception honoring the senior class,
Johnson Memorial Building

5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.

Phi Beta Kappa reception (Invitation only)

Evening

Class reunion dinners

SUNDAY, MAY 26

10:00 a.m.

Baccalaureate Service, Mead Memorial Chapel

11:45 a.m.

Luncheon for parents and seniors,

SDU Units and Proctor Dining Room

2:30 p.m.

Commencement exercises, Memorial Field House